Alice Ball, American Chemist
Alice Ball, 1892-1916, was an African American chemist who helped solve the problem of preparing an oil for injection into a human. A little background first. Kalaupapa, a small area on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, had become a holding area for people with leprosy. If you are familiar with biblical references, leprosy was an issue then. It ravages the skin, attacks mucus membranes, and attacks peripheral nerves of the brain and spinal cord. It is contagious, which is why people were isolated. For hundreds of years, the only medication was an oil from the chaulmoogra tree. Because it's an oil, it doesn't mix with water, so injecting it was useless. It also tasted terrible, nauseating. Apparently, rubbing it on skin didn't do much good. Dr. Harry T. Hollmann worked with leprosy patients, and knew he needed a chemist to help find a way to make the oil into a usable form. Alice Ball, who grew up in Hawaii as a child, returned there to be the first woman and first African Am...