Alice Hamilton Accomplishments

Alice Hamilton was a very intelligent woman who dedicated her life to helping improve the lives of others in the world. She worked many years as a physician and became a leading authority on lead poisoning and other industrial diseases. Hamilton spent her life improving the safety standards of factory workers nationwide by studying occupational illnesses, toxicology, and the dangerous effects industrial metals and chemicals have on the body.
In 1869, Alice Hamilton was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana where she grew up with her parents and three sisters. She was homeschooled until sixteen and completed her education at Miss Porter’s School. As a teen, Alice Hamilton wanted to become a doctor, but her father objected this decision. It was an unusual occupation for a woman, and Hamilton did not have the right education in science to apply to medical school. After many years of additional study and overcoming her father’s objections, she finally enrolled herself in the University of Michigan’s medical department in 1892. After earning her medical degree, she traveled to Europe to pursue
For six years, Hamilton served on the Health Committee of the League of Nations. In 1919, she was the first woman to ever be on the Harvard Medical School faculty. Of her many great accomplishments in life, this was her most famous achievement. After retiring, Alice Hamilton was presented the National Achievement Award of the Chi Omega Sorority and the Lasker Award for her work. She was also in the list of Men in Science in 1944 and named Time Woman of the year in 1956. After she died at the age of one-hundred-and-one years old, she was admitted into the U. S. National Women’s Hall of Fame and was named a National Historic Chemical Landmark. Though many decades have passed since her death, the world continues to recognize Alice Hamilton for her work in occupational safety and as an inspiring woman