Ask most people to name influential scientists, and you’ll find the same few names being shared throughout. People like Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton have rightfully found a comfortable spot in our history books- but what about the countless number of people of color or women whose contributions to the field have been erased to favor a white-male narrative? This Black History Month, the Memorial Journalism Team would like to shine the light on one such figure who helped advance the medical field despite receiving little to no credit in her lifetime. This week’s spotlight: Alice Ball.

Ball was born on July 25, 1892 in Seattle, Washington as the younger sister to her two older brothers, William and Robert, and as the elder sibling to her sister Addie. In consequence of her father’s occupation as a journalist, photographer and lawyer, the Ball family was moderately wealthy and was considered to be upper middle class. After a brief stint in Hawaii, the family moved back to Seattle where Alice Ball attended Seattle high School and excelled in all her science courses. Ball’s line of accomplishments only grow from here; after graduating high school, she went to the University of Washington where she would earn both a bachelor’s degree in pharmaceutical chemistry and a second one in pharmacy, and eventually would even publish a lengthy 10-page-paper in the acclaimed Journal of American Chemical Society called “Benzoylations in Ether Solutions”- a gender defying feat for any woman of that time, much less a woman of color. She would later become the first female and Black-female graduate to receive a Master’s Degree at the University of Hawaii, and afterwards would be its first female chemistry professor. (Scientific Women). 

While Ball furthered her studies in Hawaii, a morbid backdrop tainted the state. In the late 19th and early 20th century, patients suffering from leprosy, a chronic infectious disease, faced an outcome so grim they were often sent to an isolated area of the island just to be hidden from the public. At the same time, Ball was working on a master thesis that examined the chemical properties of Piper methysticum and its potential soothing effects. The research would catch the attention of Dr. Harry T. Hollman, who grew sick of the inconsistency in results of the-then commonly used leprosy treatment Chaulmoogra oil was producing. Hollman and Ball would unite to work together in effort to advance the treatment of those suffering from the disease, and would prove to be revolutionary in their findings. Ball was able to determine a method to utilize chaulmoogra tree seeds and turn them into an injectable form that could then be absorbed by the blood stream. She did all this at just 23 years old.

Tragedy would soon fall however, with Alice Ball dying at the young age of 24 (the cause of which is still unknown). Tragically perishing before she was able to publish her work, another scientist would enter the scene only to take credit for the ingenious methods discovered by Ball, both failing to give her credit and going as far as to name the discovery after himself. Only in 1922 would justice be served when Hollman rightfully spoke up to trace the achievements made in leprosy treatment back to Ball (Live Scientists).

Sadly, Alice Ball is just one of many Black scientists whose name and achievements were omitted from history lessons. While the medical care for leprosy patients has since evolved from Ball’s findings, it was only because of her unparalleled dedication and remarkable intelligence that it could advance. Despite her early death, Alice Ball’s incredible story lives on in the medical journals and in the hearts of all those she has inspired throughout the years.