Alice Hamilton Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Alice Hamilton
OCCUPATION: Educator, Activist, Doctor, Chemist
BIRTH DATE: February 27, 1869
DEATH DATE: September 22, 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH: New York, New York
PLACE OF DEATH: Hadlyme, Connecticut

Best Known For

Alice Hamilton was a physician and authority on lead poisoning and industrial disease. The NIOSH present an award in her name.

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Alice Hamilton

APA Style

Alice Hamilton. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 05:04, May 21, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/alice-hamilton-9326498.

Harvard Style

Alice Hamilton. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/alice-hamilton-9326498 [Accessed 21 May 2013].

MLA Style

"Alice Hamilton." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 21 2013, 05:04 http://www.biography.com/people/alice-hamilton-9326498.

MHRA Style

"Alice Hamilton," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/alice-hamilton-9326498 [accessed May 21, 2013].

Chicago Style

"Alice Hamilton," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/alice-hamilton-9326498 (accessed May 21, 2013).

CBE/CSE Style

Alice Hamilton [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 21] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/alice-hamilton-9326498.

Bluebook Style

Alice Hamilton, http://www.biography.com/people/alice-hamilton-9326498 (last visited May 21, 2013).

AMA Style

Alice Hamilton. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/alice-hamilton-9326498. Accessed May 21, 2013.

Synopsis

Born in New York City on February 27, 1869, Alice Hamilton was a physician and a leading authority on lead poisoning and industrial diseases. Her work led to improved safety standards nationwide. Hamilton died in 1970. In tribute to her work, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health presents an award in her name to scientists and engineers who excel in the field.

Early Life and Career

Alice Hamilton was born in New York City on February 27, 1869. A pioneer in industrial toxicology and a nonconformist who valued personal liberty above all else, Hamilton became a leading American authority on lead poisoning and one of the handful of worldwide specialists on industrial diseases by 1916. Her reports on lead, and later on rubber and munitions, led to improved safety standards nationwide.

The daughter of a successful grocer, Alice Hamilton chose medicine as a career as a means to be both independent and socially useful. Her sister, Edith Hamilton, chose a different path, becoming a well-known classics scholar and author. Alice spent more than a decade as a resident of Chicago's famous settlement house, Hull House. She developed her friendship with reformer Jane Addams there, and also began to combine her scientific research skills with her latent reformist zeal.

Investigator for U.S. Bureau of Labor

Focusing on industrial diseases, Alice Hamilton became a special investigator for the United States Bureau of Labor in 1911. She broke the gender barrier by becoming the first woman on the faculty of Harvard University in 1919 and later its first professor of public health. During the course of her long career, Hamilton published numerous studies on industrial toxicology, several books, and an autobiography.

Death and Legacy

Alice Hamilton died on September 22, 1970, in Hadlyme, Connecticut. In her tribute to her work, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health presents awards in her name to those scientists and engineers who excel in the field.