Alice Augusta Ball
Chemist who made the first effective leprosy treatment injectable
At a glance
- Inventor
- Alice Augusta Ball
- Life
- 1892–1916
- Birthplace
- Seattle, Washington
- Country
- United States
- Region
- United States
- Era
- 1900–1950
- Fields
- Medicine & Health, Science & Engineering
- Evidence
- Documented
- Records
- 1 in this archive
What they did
At 23, Ball developed a method to isolate ethyl esters of chaulmoogra oil so the compound could be injected and absorbed rather than swallowed or applied.
Historical context
Chaulmoogra oil was the only known treatment for Hansen's disease, but it was too viscous and nauseating to take usefully. Patients in Hawai'i were being forcibly isolated at Kalaupapa.
Obstacles
Ball died at 24 before publishing. The college president continued the work and published it under his own name; her role was restored to the record decades later by University of Hawai'i researchers.
The legacy
The 'Ball Method' was the standard treatment until sulfone drugs arrived in the 1940s. Hawai'i now marks Alice Ball Day.
The evidence
Alice Augusta Ball collection and thesis records