Notable students Fields Embryology, Entomology | Role Author Name Boris Balinsky | |
Born 23 September 1905
Kyiv, Russian Empire ( 1905-09-23 ) Citizenship Russian Empire (1905-1917)
Ukrainian Peoples Republic (1917-1921)
USSR (1922–1941)
Germany (1941-1949)
South Africa (1950–1983) Institutions Kiev University
Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology, NAS of Ukraine (uk)
University of the Witwatersrand Spouse Catherine Singaiivska, Elizabeth Stengel Children John B. Balinsky, Helen David Died September 1, 1997, Johannesburg, South Africa Alma mater Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Books A Study of African Phycitinae in the Transvaal Museum, An Introduction to Embryology Residence Soviet Union, Germany, United Kingdom, South Africa | ||
Doctoral advisor Ivan Schmalhausen | ||
Boris Ivan Balinsky (23 September 1905 Kyiv, Russian Empire – 1 September 1997, Johannesburg, South Africa) was a Ukrainian and South African biologist, embryologist, entomologist, professor of Kiev University and University of the Witwatersrand. Pioneer researcher in the field of experimental embryology, electron microscopy and developmental biology. He was author of popular textbook in embryology An Introduction to Embryology.
Born Ukrainian, a student of Ivan Schmalhausen, he was one of the first to experimentally induce organogenesis in amphibian embryos. Balinsky was a full university professor and the deputy director of the Institute of Biology in Kyiv at 28 years of age. He became a recognized expert in fish and amphibian development. Being victim of Soviet repressions, he remained under German occupation during World War II and fled to Posnan, Poland and later Munich, Germany. Balinsky briefly worked in Scotland in Conrad Hal Waddington's laboratory on mice embryology. Finally, he went to South Africa to become one of the founders of South African experimental bioscience.
Balinsky also worked in entomology and described new species of Plecoptera, Odonata and moths from the Pyralidae family, mainly from Caucasus and South Africa.