Mary Elliott Hill

Mary Elliott Hill was one of the earliest African-American women to become a chemist. She was known as both an organic and analytical chemist. Hill worked on the properties of ultraviolet light, developing analytic methodology, and, in collaboration with her husband Carl McClellan Hill, developing ketene synthesis which supported the development of plastics. She is believed to be one of the first African-American women to be awarded with a master's degree in chemistry. Hill was an analytical chemist, designing spectroscopic methods and developing ways to track the progress of the reactions based on solubility.