UNIVERSIDAD AGRARIA DEL ECUADOR
FACULTAD DE ECONOMIA AGRICOLA
CARRERA DE CIENCIAS ECONOMICAS
GUAYAQUIL
Cicle II 2021 - 2022
STUDENT NAME: Katherine Gonzalez SEMESTER: 8° Semester
DATE: November 12, 2021 TASK #2
ALICE AUGUSTA BALL
WHAT IS THIS PERSON FAMOUS FOR?
Alice Ball, was an African-American chemistry pioneer and discoverer of the first effective
treatment for leprosy.
HOW AND WHEN DID SHE BECOME FAMOUS?
The University of Hawaii hired her as a Professor of Chemistry, and again she was the first
woman and the first African American to obtain that position. Also, it was at this time that she
began the work for which she would be remembered many years later.
While working on her thesis, Dr. Harry T. Hollmann, an attending physician at Kalihi Hospital in
Hawaii, asked her to help him develop a method to isolate the active chemical compounds in
chaulmoogra oil.6 Chaulmoogra oil had already been used for the treatment of leprosy with
mixed results. The problem was that most lepers were hesitant to take the oil for long periods
of time as it was bitter and tended to upset the stomach.3 Ball developed a process to isolate
the ethyl esters of the fatty acids in chaulmoogra oil so that they could be injected, but he died
before he could publish his results.
Although her research career was short, Ball introduced a new treatment for Hansen's disease
(or leprosy) that continued to be used until the 1940s. The University of Hawaii did not
recognize her work for nearly 90 years. Finally, in 2000, the university honored him by
dedicating a plaque with his name on it, located on the only chaulmoogra tree on campus.
WHAT ARE HER MOST IMPORTANT ACHIEVEMENTS?
She was famous for being the only American chemist to develop the only effective treatment
for leprosy, as well as for being the first woman to graduate from the University of
Washington.