John (Ivan) Boris Balinsky (July 4, 1934 in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

– October 1, 1983 in

Ames, Iowa Ames () is a city in Story County, Iowa, United States, located approximately north of Des Moines in central Iowa. It is best known as the home of Iowa State University (ISU), with leading agriculture, design, engineering, and veterinary medici ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

, United States) -

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

n and American

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

origin. His father

Boris Balinsky Borys Ivanovych Balinsky (23 September 1905 – 1 September 1997) was a Ukrainian and South African biologist, embryologist, entomologist, professor of Kyiv University and University of the Witwatersrand. Pioneer researcher in the field of exp ...

was an

embryologist Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, '' -logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos and ...

Life

Balinsky was born in Kyiv into a family of biologists; his father was university professor

and his mother, Catherine Singaiivska, was a laboratory researcher. His mother died after return from a Soviet prison during World War II.

Science

Balinsky studied amphibian physiology. He investigated cell environmental adaptation regulation during development. Authored 47 research publications, including «Comparative Biochemistry of Nitrogen Metabolism» chapter. Also described several species of

Echinodermata An echinoderm () is any member of the phylum Echinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the sea li ...

: * '' Ophiactis delagoa'' JB Balinsky, 1957 * '' Macrophiothrix mossambica'' JB Balinsky, 1957 * '' Amphiura inhacensis'' JB Balinsky, 1957

Awards and grants

* Witwatersrand Council of Education Overseas Scholarship (1956) *

Nuffield Foundation The Nuffield Foundation is a charitable trust established in 1943 by William Morris, Lord Nuffield, the founder of Morris Motors Ltd. It aims to improve social well-being by funding research and innovation projects in education and social pol ...

in dominions (1962) *

Carnegie Corporation of New York The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Carnegie Corporation has endowed or otherwise helped to establis ...

(1967) * U. S.

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

International Fellowship (1968) * South African Council for the scientific and Industrial Research Senior Bursary (1975) *

Harry Oppenheimer Fellowship Award The Harry Oppenheimer Fellowship Award is awarded annually by the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust. It is considered the top award for research on the African continent. In Memory of Harry Oppenheimer The Award was created in 2001, in South Africa, by ...

(1975)

Science organization membership

* AAAS *

Biochemical Society The Biochemical Society is a learned society in the United Kingdom in the field of biochemistry, including all the cellular and molecular biosciences. Structure It currently has around 7000 members, two-thirds in the UK. It is affiliated with th ...

Royal Society of South Africa The Royal Society of South Africa is a learned society composed of eminent South African scientists and academics. The society was granted its royal charter by King Edward VII in 1908, nearly a century after Capetonians first began to conceive of ...

* Physiological Society of Southern Africa * Society for Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes of Southern Africa Vice chairman (1974-1975) for the South African Biochemical Society and the chairman (1973-1974) of the Society for Experimental Biology, Transvaal.

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balinsky, John B. American zoologists American biochemists South African biologists Soviet emigrants to South Africa Scientists from Johannesburg Scientists from Kyiv 1934 births 1983 deaths 20th-century South African zoologists South African emigrants to the United States