Black History Fact: Alice Ball, an African American chemist, was the first to discover a cure for Hansen's disease (leprosy). Ball was also the first African-American woman and the first African-American to receive a master's degree in chemistry from the College of Hawaii (now known as the University of Hawaii). Alice Augusta Ball was born in Seattle, Washington on July 24, 1892. She was the middle child in a family of three, with two older brothers and a younger sister. The family was comfortably middle-class. Ball tragically died at the age of 24 as a result of complications caused by breathing chlorine gas during a lab teaching accident. Because Dr. Arthur Dean, the president of the College of Hawaii, continued Ball's research without crediting her, she did not get to see the full impact of her discovery during her brief lifetime. Dean even took credit for her discovery, dubbing it the "Dean Method." Unfortunately, men were routinely given credit for women's discoveries. Dr. Harry T. Hollmann, the assistant surgeon at Kalihi Hospital who first pushed Ball to investigate chaulmoogra oil, published a paper six years after her death in 1922, finally giving Ball the credit she deserved. Despite this, Ball was largely forgotten in scientific history until recently. Former Hawaii Lieutenant Governor Mazie Hirono has also declared February 29 to be "Alice Ball Day." #365DaysOfBlackHistory #BlackHistoryFacts #AliceBall #BlackScientist #Leprosy #ShowThyselfApproved #KnowledgeIsPower #EachOneTeachOne #BLM (at Rise Up Financial Freedom Solutions LLC) https://www.instagram.com/p/CR39O-rLckc/?utm_medium=tumblr