{{Short description|Ukrainian-born zoologist (1934–1983)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox scientist | name = John Boris Balinsky | native_name = Іван (Джон) Балінський | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1934|7|4}} | birth_place = Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1983|10|1|1934|7|4}} | death_place = {{nowrap|Ames, Iowa}} | children = | spouse = | citizenship = {{Plainlist| * USSR (1934–1950) * South Africa (1950–1983) }} | fields = Biochemistry, zoology | workplaces = {{Plainlist| * University of the Witwatersrand * University of London * Columbia University * Iowa State University }} | alma_mater = {{Plainlist| * St. John's College, Johannesburg * University of the Witwatersrand }} | doctoral_advisor = | thesis_title = | thesis_year = | thesis_title1 = | thesis_url = | thesis_year1 = | academic_advisors = | notable_students = }} '''John (Ivan) Boris Balinsky''' (July 4, 1934<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Biography Note to the catalogue for the John B. Balinsky Papers in the Special Collections Department, Iowa State University Library |url=https://findingaids.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/arch/rgrp/13-25-12.html |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=Iowa State University Library}}</ref> in Kyiv – October 1, 1983<ref name=":1" /> in Ames, Iowa) was a Ukrainian-South African zoologist. His father Boris Balinsky was an embryologist.
== Early life == Balinsky was born in Kyiv into a family of biologists; his father, Boris Balinsky, was a university professor and his mother, Katia Syngayevskaya,<ref name=":1" /> was a laboratory researcher. In 1937, his mother was sentenced to 10 years in a Gulag work camp, as part of Stalin's Great Purge.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Korzh |first=Vladimir |date=2005 |title=Boris Balinsky: transition from embryology to developmental biology |url=http://www.cecm.usp.br/~cewinter/aulas/artigos/2005/Balinsky.pdf |journal=BioEssays |volume=27 |issue=9 |pages=970–977 |doi=10.1002/bies.20253 |pmid=16108077 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923201432/http://www.cecm.usp.br/~cewinter/aulas/artigos/2005/Balinsky.pdf |archive-date=23 September 2015 |via=Wiley |access-date=13 March 2024 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> The sentence was later reduced but she died suddenly in 1943.<ref name=":0" />
Balinsky graduated from St. John's College in Johannesburg, South Africa.<ref name=":1" /> He obtained his Bachelors of Science in Zoology and Chemistry in 1955 from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and a Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1959 from the University of London.<ref name=":1" />
== Career == Balinsky studied amphibian physiology. He investigated cell environmental adaptation regulation during development.<ref name=":1" /> Balinsky authored 47 research publications, including a chapter in the book "Comparative Biochemistry of Nitrogen Metabolism".<ref name=":1" />
Balinsky also described several species of Echinodermata: * ''Ophiactis delagoa'' JB Balinsky, 1957 * ''Macrophiothrix mossambica'' JB Balinsky, 1957 * ''Amphiura inhacensis'' JB Balinsky, 1957
== Awards and grants == Balinsky received numerous awards and grants, including: * Witwatersrand Council of Education Overseas Scholarship (1956)<ref name=":1" /> * Nuffield Foundation in dominions (1962)<ref name=":1" /> * Carnegie Corporation of New York (1967)<ref name=":1" /> * U. S. National Institutes of Health International Fellowship (1968)<ref name=":1" /> * South African Council for the scientific and Industrial Research Senior Bursary (1975);<ref name=":1" /> and * Harry Oppenheimer Fellowship Award (1975).
== Membership == Balinsky was a member of: * AAAS<ref name=":1" /> * Biochemical Society<ref name=":1" /> * Royal Society of South Africa<ref name=":1" /> * Physiological Society of Southern Africa;<ref name=":1" /> and * Society for Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes of Southern Africa<ref name=":1" /> He was also the vice-chair from 1974-1975 of the South African Biochemical Society and, from 1973-1974, chair of the Society for Experimental Biology, Transvaal.<ref name=":1" />
== Further reading == * {{cite book |last=Balinsky |first=Boris |title=Digital surrogate of Boris Balinsky Memoir |publisher=University of Illinois Archives |series= |volume= |edition= |date=1988 |location= |pages= |url=http://archives.library.illinois.edu/archon/index.php?p=digitallibrary/digitalcontent&id=297&q=balinsky}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balinsky, John B.}} Category:20th-century American zoologists Category:20th-century American biochemists Category:South African biologists Category:Soviet emigrants Category:Immigrants to South Africa Category:Scientists from Johannesburg Category:Scientists from Kyiv Category:1934 births Category:1983 deaths Category:20th-century South African zoologists Category:South African emigrants to the United States Category:University of the Witwatersrand alumni Category:Alumni of the University of London Category:Alumni of St John's College (Johannesburg)