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John B. Balinsky was born July 4, 1934 in
Kiev Russia. He received his matriculation certificate (1951)
from St. John’s College in Johannesburg, South Africa; a B.Sc.
(1955) In Zoology and Chemistry with honors from the University
of Witwaterstand Johannesburg, South Africa; and a Ph.D. (1959)
in biochemistry from the University of London, England.
Dr. Balinsky served on the faculty of the
University Witwatersrand where he was an assistant professor
(1960- 1964), associate professor (1965-68), reader (1969-1974)
and professor (1974-1976). He was also a visiting professor
(1975-1976) at Columbia University in New York. He came to Iowa
State University as the chairman (1976-1983) of the Department
of Zoology where he served until his death.
Dr. Balinsky’s main area of research
included regulation of cell adaptation to environment and in
development. He authored 47 publications including a chapter in
a book on “Comparative Biochemistry of Nitrogen Metabolism”. He
received numerous awards which include the Witwatersrand Council
of Education Overseas Scholarship (1956), the Nuffield
Foundation Dominion Traveling Fellowship (1962), the Carnegie
Corporation Travel Grant (1967), the U. S. National Institutes
of Health International Fellowship (1968), the South African
Council for the scientific and Industrial Research Senior
Bursary (1975), and the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Trust
University Traveling Fellowship (1975).
Dr. Balinsky belonged to several professional
organizations including the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, Biochemical Society, United Kingdom,
Royal Society of South Africa; Physiological Society of Southern
Africa; and the Society for Endocrinology, Metabolism and
Diabetes of Southern Africa. He was the vice chairman (1974-
1975) for the South African Biochemical Society and the chairman
(1973-1974) of the Society for Experimental Biology, Transvaal.
John Boris Balinsky passed away on October 1,
1983. |
