Ashok Sahni was born on 19 August 1941. He earned his PhD in geology from the University of Minnesota in 1968, later becoming professor emeritus at Panjab University, Chandigarh, and a retired INSA senior scientist at Lucknow University's Centre of Advanced Study in Geology.[1]
Sahni's research combined paleontology, sedimentology, and geochronology to illuminate India's distinct geological record, including the timing of the India-Asia collision and the duration of the Deccan Traps volcanic activity. He co-described Rajasaurus narmadensis, a stocky, crested predatory dinosaur from India belonging to the same southern-hemisphere lineage as Madagascar's Majungasaurus, and worked extensively on Cretaceous-to-early-Tertiary microvertebrate fossils.[1]
He is a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, the Indian Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences (India), and the World Academy of Sciences, and an honorary member of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.[1]