Boris Balinsky

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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.[1]

Boris Ivan Balinsky
Борис Іванович Балінський
Born(1905-09-23)23 September 1905
Died1 September 1997(1997-09-01) (aged 91)
Citizenship
Alma mater
Spouse(s)Catherine Singaiivska, Elizabeth Stengel
ChildrenJohn B. Balinsky, Helen David
Scientific career
FieldsEmbryology, entomology
Institutions
Doctoral advisorIvan Schmalhausen
Notable students

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.

Insects described

Plecoptera

Dragonflies

Lepidoptera

New species

New genera

References

  1. ^ Balinsky, Boris (1970). An Introduction to Embryology (3rd ed.). Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company. ISBN 0721615171.

Sources