Occupational health and safety has been in the news a lot recently as discussions of safety in the work place burgeon on the Internet. This was one of the reasons for the Labor Movement during the Twentieth Century, as working conditions, especially in mining, garment manufacture, and various manufacturing facilities were examined after some tragic accident or other. One woman who was a pioneer in occupational health was Alice Hamilton. Apparently born in New York City (although she is often reported as being born in Indiana) and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana, she thought to train as a medical missionary to Iran, but eventually opted to study medicine, graduating from the University of Michigan School of Medicine in 1893.
Hamilton interned at Minneapolis Hospital for Women and Children. She studied bacteriology and pathology in Europe, then did postgraduate work at Johns Hopkins University. In 1897 she became professor of pathology at the Women's Medical School of Northwestern University in Chicago. She became interested in medical problems associated with the Industrial Age after becoming a member and resident of Hull House, a settlement house founded by Jane Addams, and noted that it was poorly studied in the United States. She started her research in 1907 and published her first medical paper on the subject in 1908. In the same year the governor appointed her to the newly formed Occupational Diseases Commission of Illinois. Her research and position on the Commission provided the stimulus for major reforms in industrial safety and health.
Her work was recognized by an appointment as assistant professor to the Department of Industrial Medicine at Harvard Medical School in 1919, the first woman to be so honored. Still she was excluded from many social gatherings and discriminated against in other areas.
In 1924 she was appointed as the only woman member to the League of Nations Health Committee, a position she held until 1930. She campaigned against the addition of tetraethyl lead to gasoline, one of the first medical doctors to recognize the dangers involved. She retired in 1935, but continued her professional work as a consultant to the U. S. Division of Labor Standards. She was included in "American Men of Science" in 1944, and was presented with the Lasker Award for major contributions to medical science in 1947.
After her death in 1970, she was given a number of posthumous honors and finally recognized as a pioneer in environmental health issues. She had lived to see her 100th birthday and had contributed greatly to the health of those who labor in industry. Certainly one of the most worthy of practical contributions one could make in the sciences.
The only very remote connection that I have is that our foster daughter graduated from Johns Hopkins and currently works on public health issues for a government agency.
Internet References:
Alice Hamilton http://www.biography.com/...
Alice Hamilton, M.D. http://www.cdc.gov/...
Alice Hamilton http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/...
Alice Hamilton and the Development of Occupational Medicine http://www.acs.org/...
Alice Hamilton http://www.chemheritage.org/...
Dr. Alice Hamilton http://www.nlm.nih.gov/...
Alice Hamilton http://en.wikipedia.org/...