Alice Augusta Ball, born July 24, 1882 in Seattle, Washington, is the first woman and first African-American woman to receive a Master's Degree from the University of Hawai'i. She studied chemistry at the University of Washington where she earned a Bachelor's Degree in pharmaceutical chemistry in 1912.
Based on her work at the University of Hawai'i, Ball was contacted by Dr. Harry Hollimann, who requested her assistance for his research into a treatment of leprosy. At the time, people diagnosed with leprosy were condemned to the Hawai'ian island Molokai, where they were expected to live out the rest of their lives.
She developed a technique to isolate the antibiotic properties from chaulmoogra oil that could be injected into the body. Her research led to successful treatments of leprosy, and people were able to be discharged from the hospital and return to their families.
She passed away from undetermined causes at 24 in December 1916.
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