chemistry

John B. Balinsky

John B. Balinsky is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand John B. Balinsky rather than just read about it. In short: John (Ivan) Boris Balinsky (July 4, 1934 in Kyiv – October 1, 1983 in Ames, Iowa) was a Ukrainian-South African zoologist. His father Boris Balinsky was an embryologist.

Key takeaways

John B. Balinsky belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect John B. Balinsky to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of John B. Balinsky from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

John (Ivan) Boris Balinsky (July 4, 1934 in Kyiv – October 1, 1983 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, 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:

Witwatersrand Council of Education Overseas Scholarship (1956) Nuffield Foundation in dominions (1962) Carnegie Corporation of New York (1967) U. S. National Institutes of Health International Fellowship (1968) South African Council for the scientific and Industrial Research Senior Bursary (1975); and Harry Oppenheimer Fellowship Award (1975).

Membership Balinsky was a member of:

AAAS Biochemical Society Royal Society of South Africa Physiological Society of Southern Africa; and Society for Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes of Southern Africa 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.

Further reading Balinsky, Boris (1988). Digital surrogate of Boris Balinsky Memoir. University of Illinois Archives.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John B. Balinsky

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John B. Balinsky claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to John B. Balinsky before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about John B. Balinsky ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of John B. Balinsky

In research: John B. Balinsky appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses John B. Balinsky in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: John B. Balinsky is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1934 births, 1983 deaths, 20th-century American biochemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John B. Balinsky outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study John B. Balinsky in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what John B. Balinsky means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain John B. Balinsky out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is John B. Balinsky in simple terms?

John (Ivan) Boris Balinsky (July 4, 1934 in Kyiv – October 1, 1983 in Ames, Iowa) was a Ukrainian-South African zoologist. His father Boris Balinsky was an embryologist.

Why does John B. Balinsky matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study John B. Balinsky?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on John B. Balinsky.