John B. Balinsky


John Boris Balinsky 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, 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. The sentence was later reduced but she died suddenly in 1943.
Balinsky graduated from St. John's College in Johannesburg, South Africa. 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.

Career

Balinsky studied amphibian physiology. He investigated cell environmental adaptation regulation during development. Balinsky authored 47 research publications, including a chapter in the book "Comparative Biochemistry of Nitrogen Metabolism".
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:
Balinsky was a member of:
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.