In 1915, Alice Ball became the first African American and the first woman to graduate with a M.S. degree in chemistry from the University of Hawaii. Ball previously studied chemistry at the University of Washington where she received a bachelor’s degree in pharmaceutical chemistry in 1912 and a degree in the science of pharmacy in 1914.

At age 23, Ball developed a procedure that saponified fatty acids to form chaulmoogric acid. This transformed the acid into its ethyl ester – a substance that retained the oil’s therapeutic properties while being more stable in an aqueous suspension.  Ball died on December 31, 1916, at age 24 before she could publish her results.  She was recognized for her work in 1922 when she was briefly mentioned in a medical journal, with her method being called the “Ball Method.”