Professor Denis Sinor (1916–2011) was born in Hungary and studied Altaic linguistics. Between 1939 and 1948, he held various teaching and research posts in Hungary and France. After the war, where he served as a member of the French Resistance and later in the Free French Forces, he joined the faculty of Oriental Studies at Cambridge University. During this time he served on the Council of the Royal Asiatic Society as Honorary Secretary from 1955–1962.

In 1962, he moved to the United States, bringing his expertise to Indiana University where he created the Department of Uralic and Altaic Studies, now Central Eurasian Studies. In and outside of the department, Sinor worked to promote an appreciation of Inner Asia beyond its geographical and political neighbours, China and Russia. At IU, Sinor established two key and renowned resources for Inner Asian Studies. In 1967, he founded, and until 1981 directed, the Asian Studies Research Institute, known today as the Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, whose collection of materials is unparalleled. Sinor received many honours within and outside the United States. He was a member of the French and Hungarian Academies, he was an Honorary Professor of the Oriental Institute of the Russian Academy, was twice the holder of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and was repeatedly honoured by UNESCO.

But perhaps Sinor’s most significant contribution to Inner Asian studies and Indiana University is the Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center (IAUNRC). The only one of its kind in the country, the centre has helped train and support a strong lineage of scholars and has helped support the study of such languages as Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, Mongolian, Persian/Tajik, Tibetan, Turkish and Uzbek.