Scientists are significant people in the ancient and modern society. My research focuses on Alice Augusta Ball. Alice Augusta Ball was to born to a family of four children on July 24, 1892.Alice Ball had two brothers, and a sister Addie (Bernard, 2018). Alice Augusta Ball hailed from Seattle Washington. Alice Ball parents were Laura Louise Ball and Robert Ball. Robert Ball was not only a news editor but also a lawyer. Alice Ball grandfather, James Ball senior, was among African Americans who learned daguerreotype. The daguerreotype is a method where photographs were printed onto metal plates.
Alice Balls family relocated to Honolulu. The main reason for their relocation was due to James Ball arthritis condition (Bernard, 2018). Balls’ family relocated to Honolulu hoping that the warm weather will help cure the old man. James Ball a year later succumbed to arthritis and relocated to Seattle again. Alice attended Seattle High School and graduated in 1910 attaining good grades in sciences.
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However, after Alice Ball had graduated from Seattle, she joined the University of Washington where she pursued a bachelor’s degree in pharmaceutical chemistry (Gaskell, 2017). Following completion of her degree, she continued the second degree in pharmacy and graduated two years later. Alice Ball later published a ten-page article with the help of her instructor on a crucial American journal tilted Benzoylation in Ether Solution. The achievement was not only significant to African American women but also to women of all races in the world.
Following her estimable achievement, Alice Ball received scholarships from both University of Hawaii and California Berkeley briefly after her graduation (Gaskell, 2017). Alice Ball decided it was best for her to pursue her master's program in Hawaii. The decision led to her joining the University of Hawaii to pursue master’s degree in chemistry. Alice Balls study dwelt majorly on chaulmoogra oil and chemical properties. Chaulmoogra oil treated leprosy. Alice Ball discovered ester ethyl form which was an injection revolutionized from chaulmoogra oil. The infusion worked in the human body by dissolving in the bloodstream as it was water-soluble. Alice Ball was the first African American woman to graduate with master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Hawaii. Alice later joined the University of Hawaii as a chemistry professor in the department of chemistry. Furthermore, she is the first African American woman to be a woman chemistry professor at the University of Hawaii.
However, Alice Balls’ master’s thesis topic base on the study of the active principle of Piper methysticum and chemical make-up. In ancient America from 1866 to 1942, leprosy was regarded as a taboo (Habl and Auersperg, 2017). Patients diagnosed with leprosy were stigmatized and isolated during these durations. Furthermore, patients suffering from leprosy were treated as criminals as they were arrested and imprisoned in the island of Molokai. At the time, a famous physician at Kahili Hospital by the name Dr. Harry T. Hollman carrying out his research o leprosy. The physician was among the few who were not contented how chaulmoogra oil worked. He was also not content with how the oil gave inconsistent results acquired from its natural state. Dr. Harry T. Hollman decided to reach out to Alice Ball to assist him in carrying out the research. The research required one to design technique of isolation of the active compounds of the oil. Alice had previously worked on the chaulmoogra oil on her master’s program was the best assistant to work with him.
Chaulmoogra oil acquired mixed reactions when applied to leprosy patients. Chaulmoogra oil offered various forms of treatment, and each style proved to bear medical consequences. Previous the oil was used in its typical manner straight from the tree in the 1300s.In the 1300s the chaulmoogra oil could not be used as an injection as it was too painful due to its sticky nature as it was used in its tropical origin. Furthermore, some hospitals reluctantly tried to use but it their fruits bore no fruits. The oil later caused clumping and blisters on the skin. Vesicles formed on the surface which looked like perfects rows. Vomiting by the patients was created by the oil being ingestible due to its acrid taste as the oil proved challenging to swallow.
Alice Ball at the tender age of 23, designed a method which made chaulmoogra oil become injectable and able to be soluble by the body (Swaby, 2017). The technique involved isolation of ethyl ester compounds from fatty acids of the oil. The invention of this method was named after Alice Ball as the ‘ball method.’ The technique was effective in treating leprosy as the drug did not trace to a bitter taste. Alice Ball was unable to publish her chaulmoogra oil findings due to her untimely death. Arthur L. who was the then chemist and president the University of Hawaii reported the results on her behalf. The doctor decided to manufacture chaulmoogra injection in bulk. Arthur L. did the despicable. He published the results without crediting Ball. He also went ahead and renamed her method as the Dean method. A Hawaii physician named Hollmann manned up and reported the case in American Medical Association Journal and acknowledged the findings of Alice Ball. However, the drug remained relevant for the treatment of Leprosy till the invention of sulfonamide drugs.
Alice Ball life came to a short end on December 31, 1916, at the tender age of 24. Rumors suggest that she succumbed to illness caused by exposure to chlorine (Swaby, 2017). Facts are not available to show the primary cause of her death as her death certificate records are not reliable. Alice Ball research positively affected the leprosy patients due to her the invention of Balls injection method.
References
Bernard, T. (2018). Late-K Lunacy: A Novel. Petra Books.
Gaskell, E. (2017). Round the Sofa: Classic Victorian Collection: A Novel, 6 Short Stories & Biography of the Author: My Lady Ludlow, Round the Sofa, An Accursed Race, The Doom of the Griffiths, Half a Life-Time Ago, The Poor Clare…. e-art now.
Habl, C., & Auersperg, A. M. I. (2017). The keybox: Shape-frame fitting during tool use in Goffin’s cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana). PloS one, 12(11), e0186859.
Swaby, R. (2017). Trailblazers: 33 Women in Science who Changed the World. Yearling.
