Alice Ball: An African-American Woman to Foster Education in Chemistry

Abstract

This paper aimed at analyzing the life story of Alice Ball as a case study for education in chemistry. Alice was a young African-American chemist in the early 20th century who was responsible for the chemical synthesis of derivatives of chaulmoogra oil used in the treatment of Hansen’s disease. Alice’s work has been almost forgotten in chemistry history, but a perusal of her life story may provide clues about the complexity of scientific activities. Historical sources were used to reconstruct aspects of Alice Ball’s life and to analyze science as a cognitive-epistemic and social-institutional system. A survey was then carried out with chemistry students, based on a reading activity of Alice’s biography and research work. The study demonstrated the potential of this case and her biography in shedding light on the practices and social context of science and may also contribute to strengthen the role of Blacks and women in science who have historically been overlooked in the scientific enterprise.