Ele Willoughby, PhDHappy birthday to pharmaceutical #chemist Alice Ball (1892-1916) who developed 1st effective treatment for #leprosy. Though her life was cut tragically short, her research saved 1000s from exile & painful, ineffective lifelong treatment for leprosy, & she was a trailblazer for both women & Black scientists.
Ball studied #chemistry at UW earning a BSc & 2nd degree in pharmacy 2 years later. She published “Benzoylations in Ether
Solution,” in the prestigious J Am Chem Soc with her #pharmacy instructor. She was offered many scholarships & opted to return to Hawaii to pursue her chemistry MSc investigating the active principle of Piper methysticum. She was both 1st woman & 1st Black graduate with a master’s degree from U Hawai’i. She became the 1st Black chemistry prof at the school.
Dr. Harry T. Hollmann of Kalihi Hospital in Hawai’i & acting director of Kalihi leprosy clinic, was unsatisfied with using chaulmoogra
Dr. Harry T. Hollmann of Kalihi Hospital in Hawai’i & acting director of Kalihi leprosy clinic, was unsatisfied with using chaulmoogra
oil in its natural form to treat patients & wanted to isolate the active ingredients. He recruited Ball to help. Within a year, she was able to do what all had been unable to do for centuries. She isolated the active ingredients & converted them to a form which could be circulated in the body. This breakthrough was so significant, she was offered an instructor position.
Tragically, Ball became ill during her research & returned to Seattle for treatment. She may have been exposed to 🧵
Tragically, Ball became ill during her research & returned to Seattle for treatment. She may have been exposed to 🧵
chlorine gas while demonstrating the use of a gas mask in case of attack (as WWI was raging), but the cause of her death is unknown & she had yet to publish.
The chemist & president of U Hawaii, Arthur L. Dean completed & published her study -calling it the “Dean Method”! Dr. Hollmann objected & documented how the technique should be the “Ball Method”. Despite Hollmann’s efforts Ball’s achievements did not receive much recognition until historians highlighted her work in the 70s. 🧵
The chemist & president of U Hawaii, Arthur L. Dean completed & published her study -calling it the “Dean Method”! Dr. Hollmann objected & documented how the technique should be the “Ball Method”. Despite Hollmann’s efforts Ball’s achievements did not receive much recognition until historians highlighted her work in the 70s. 🧵
Almost 90 years after her discovery, the U Hawaii finally recognized her work with a plaque on the school’s lone chaulmoogra tree in 2000, & the Lieutenant Governor declared February 29 “Alice Ball Day,” now celebrated every 4 years.
MrEdgarBass