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{{Short description|Indian Paleontologist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Use Indian English|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sunil Bajpai
| image = Sunil Bajpai field.jpg
| caption = Sunil Bajpai during field work near Jaisalmer City
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1961|09|30}}
| education = Ph.D. in Paleontology
| alma_mater = [[Panjab University, Chandigarh]]
| occupation = Vertebrate Paleontologist
| employer = [[Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee]], [[Uttarakhand]]
| organization = Former Director, [[Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences]], [[Lucknow]]
}}

'''Sunil Bajpai''' (born 30 September 1961) is the [[Chair]] [[Professor]] of [[Vertebrate Paleontology]] in the Department of Earth Sciences, [[Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee]]. He is in service as a professor at IIT Roorkee since 1 January 1996 till 30 September 2026.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sunil Bajpai |url=https://www.iitr.ac.in/~ES/sunilfes |access-date=2023-10-19 |website=www.iitr.ac.in}}</ref> He also served as the director of the [[Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences]] from January 2013 to July 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Welcome to BSIP |url=https://www.bsip.res.in/old/Past_HOI2.html |access-date=2022-09-22 |website=www.bsip.res.in}}</ref>

Sunil Bajpai predominantly works on the [[Cenozoic]] vertebrates of India with focus on marine mammals, such as whales and sea cows.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last1=Thewissen |first1=J. G. M. |last2=Cooper |first2=Lisa Noelle |last3=George |first3=John C. |last4=Bajpai |first4=Sunil |year=2009 |title=From Land to Water: the Origin of Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises |journal=Evolution: Education and Outreach |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=272–288 |doi=10.1007/s12052-009-0135-2 |s2cid=11583496 |issn=1936-6426|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last1=Thewissen |first1=J. G. M. |last2=Cooper |first2=Lisa Noelle |last3=Clementz |first3=Mark T. |last4=Bajpai |first4=Sunil |last5=Tiwari |first5=B. N. |year=2007 |title=Whales originated from aquatic artiodactyls in the Eocene epoch of India |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature06343 |journal=Nature |volume=450 |issue=7173 |pages=1190–1194 |doi=10.1038/nature06343 |pmid=18097400 |bibcode=2007Natur.450.1190T |s2cid=4416444 |issn=0028-0836|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bajpai |first1=S. |last2=Thewissen |first2=J. G. M. |last3=Sahni |first3=A. |year=2009 |title=The origin and early evolution of whales: macroevolution documented on the Indian Subcontinent |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12038-009-0060-0 |journal=Journal of Biosciences |volume=34 |issue=5 |pages=673–686 |doi=10.1007/s12038-009-0060-0 |pmid=20009264 |s2cid=28232300 |issn=0250-5991|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bajpai |first1=Sunil |last2=Thewissen |first2=J. G. M. |last3=Kapur |first3=Vivesh Vir |last4=Tiwari |first4=B. N. |last5=Sahni |first5=Ashok |year=2006 |title=Eocene and Oligocene sirenians (Mammalia) from Kachchh, India |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1671/0272-4634(2006)26[400:eaosmf]2.0.co;2 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=400–410 |doi=10.1671/0272-4634(2006)26[400:eaosmf]2.0.co;2 |s2cid=86682899 |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Bajpai and his collaborators fossil discoveries from the Eocene of Kutch ([[Gujarat]]) and the Himalayas have helped in understanding how whales have evolved.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> Bajpai also works on land mammals, which includes the early representatives of horses, artiodactyls, and primates, such as the stem perissodactyl family [[Cambaytheriidae]], artiodactyl ''Gujaratia,'' and primates such as the adapoid ''[[Marcgodinotius]]'' and the omomyid ''[https://www.mindat.org/taxon-4974810.html Vastanomys].''<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last1=Bajpai |first1=Sunil |last2=Kay |first2=Richard F. |last3=Williams |first3=Blythe A. |last4=Das |first4=Debasis P. |last5=Kapur |first5=Vivesh V. |last6=Tiwari |first6=B. N. |year=2008 |title=The oldest Asian record of Anthropoidea |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=105 |issue=32 |pages=11093–11098 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0804159105 |pmid=18685095 |pmc=2516236 |bibcode=2008PNAS..10511093B |issn=0027-8424|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="vastan">{{Cite journal |last1=Bajpai |first1=Sunil |last2=Kapur |first2=Vivesh V. |last3=Thewissen |first3=J. G. M. |last4=Das |first4=Debasis P. |last5=Tiwari |first5=B. N. |last6=Sharma |first6=Ritu |last7=Saravanan |first7=N. |date=2005 |title=Early eocene primates from Vastan lignite mine, Gujarat, western India |url=http://palaeontologicalsociety.in/publication.php |journal=Journal of the Palaeontological Society of India |language=en |volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=43–45 |issn=0552-9360}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last1=Bajpai |first1=Sunil |last2=Kapur |first2=Vivesh V |last3=Das |first3=Debasis P |last4=Tiwari |first4=B N |last5=N |first5=Saravanan |last6=Sharma |first6=Ritu |year=2005 |title=Early Eocene land mammals from the Vastan Lignite Mine, District Surat (Gujarat), western India |url=http://repository.ias.ac.in/94013/ |journal=Journal of the Palaeontological Society of India|volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=101–113 }}</ref> Additionally, he has worked on many other fossil vertebrates such as sharks, bony fishes, frogs, snakes, lizards, insectivores, rodents, etc.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Carolin |first1=Nora |last2=Bajpai |first2=Sunil |last3=Maurya |first3=Abhayanand Singh |last4=Schwarzhans |first4=Werner |year=2022 |title=New perspectives on late Tethyan Neogene biodiversity development of fishes based on Miocene (~ 17 Ma) otoliths from southwestern India |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12542-022-00623-9 |journal=PalZ |volume=97 |pages=43–80 |language=en |doi=10.1007/s12542-022-00623-9 |s2cid=249184395 |issn=0031-0220|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Das |first1=Debasis P. |last2=Carolin |first2=Nora |last3=Bajpai |first3=Sunil |year=2022 |title=A nyctitheriid insectivore (Eulipotyphla, Mammalia) of Asian affinity from the early Eocene of India |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2021.1966002 |journal=Historical Biology |language=en |volume=34 |issue=7 |pages=1157–1165 |doi=10.1080/08912963.2021.1966002 |bibcode=2022HBio...34.1157D |s2cid=238735010 |issn=0891-2963|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kumar |first1=Krishna |last2=Bajpai |first2=Sunil |last3=Pandey |first3=Pragya |last4=Ghosh |first4=Triparna |last5=Bhattacharya |first5=Debasish |year=2022 |title=Hybodont sharks from the Jurassic of Jaisalmer, western India |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2021.1954920 |journal=Historical Biology |language=en |volume=34 |issue=6 |pages=953–963 |doi=10.1080/08912963.2021.1954920 |bibcode=2022HBio...34..953K |s2cid=238781606 |issn=0891-2963|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Carolin |first=Nora |last2=Mandal |first2=Nivedita |last3=Maurya |first3=Abhayanand Singh |last4=Bajpai |first4=Sunil |date=2026-02-12 |title=First Neogene bat from India: implications for a possible radiation of Vespertilioninae during the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2025.2611988 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |language=en |doi=10.1080/02724634.2025.2611988 |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }}</ref> He has also been involved in studies of latest [[Cretaceous]]-[[Paleocene]] faunas of the Deccan volcanic province of India and their implications in understanding the northward drift of the Indian tectonic plate.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Chatterjee |first1=Sankar |url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/1864/ |title=The Restless Indian Plate and Its Epic Voyage from Gondwana to Asia: Its Tectonic, Paleoclimatic, and Paleobiogeographic Evolution |last2=Scotese |first2=Christopher R |last3=Bajpai |first3=Sunil |date=2017 |publisher=Geological Society of America |isbn=978-0-8137-2529-1 |language=en |doi=10.1130/spe529}}</ref>

In 2023, Bajpai and colleagues reported on ''[[Tharosaurus indicus]]'', India's first [[dicraeosaurid]] dinosaur, from the [[Thar Desert]] of Jaisalmer, Rajasthan state, western India. The fossils were unearthed from Middle Jurassic outcrops of the [[Jaisalmer Formation]]. The taxon likely represents the oldest known record of this group and, seen in conjunction with previously known early Jurassic sauropods from India (''[[Barapasaurus]]'', ''[[Kotasaurus]]''), suggests that what is now India may have been a major centre for neosauropod evolution.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bajpai |first1=Sunil |last2=Datta |first2=Debajit |last3=Pandey |first3=Pragya |last4=Ghosh |first4=Triparna |last5=Kumar |first5=Krishna |last6=Bhattacharya |first6=Debasish |date=2023-08-04 |title=Fossils of the oldest diplodocoid dinosaur suggest India was a major centre for neosauropod radiation |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=13 |issue=1 |page=12680 |doi=10.1038/s41598-023-39759-2 |pmid=37542094 |pmc=10403599 |bibcode=2023NatSR..1312680B |issn=2045-2322|doi-access=free }}</ref> In 2024, he coauthored the descriptions of what may be the largest known [[madtsoiid]] snake, ''[[Vasuki indicus]]'' from [[Naredi Formation]],<ref name="Vasuki">{{Cite journal |last1=Datta |first1=Debajit |last2=Bajpai |first2=Sunil |date=18 April 2024 |title=Largest known madtsoiid snake from warm Eocene period of India suggests intercontinental Gondwana dispersal |journal=[[Scientific Reports]] |language=en |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=8054 |doi=10.1038/s41598-024-58377-0 |pmid=38637509 |issn=2045-2322|doi-access=free |pmc=11549349 }}</ref> and the [[mammal]] ''[[Indotriconodon]]'' from the [[Late Cretaceous]] [[Intertrappean Beds]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Bajpai |first=Sunil |last2=Rautela |first2=Abhay |last3=Yadav |first3=Ravi |last4=Wilson Mantilla |first4=Gregory P. |date=2024-02-29 |title=The first eutriconodontan mammal from the Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of India |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2024.2312234 |journal=[[Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology]] |language=en |doi=10.1080/02724634.2024.2312234 |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Education==

Bajpai carried out his Ph.D. studies in [[Paleontology]] from the Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, [[Panjab University]], Chandigarh, in 1990.<ref name="sbajpai">{{Cite web |title=Sunil Bajpai |url=https://iitr.ac.in/~ES/sunilfes |access-date=2022-09-22 |website=iitr.ac.in}}</ref>

==Honors and awards==
* Fellow of the [[National Academy of Sciences, India]] (2008)<ref name="sbajpai"/>
* Fellow of the [[Indian Academy of Sciences]] (2007)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Indian Academy of Sciences |url=https://fellows.ias.ac.in/profile/v/FL2007003 |access-date=2022-09-22 |website=fellows.ias.ac.in}}</ref>
* National Geoscience Award, Ministry of Mines, Government of India (2014)<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.mines.gov.in/writereaddata/Content/A_NationalGeoscience_Awardees1995-2012.pdf | title=A compilation of national geoscience awardees 1995-2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220921072614/https://www.mines.gov.in/writereaddata/Content/A_NationalGeoscience_Awardees1995-2012.pdf | archive-date=2022-09-21 | publisher=Government of India - Ministry of Mines}}</ref>
* National award for Geosciences and Technology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt of India (2018)<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.moes.gov.in/sites/default/files/Sunil_Bajpai_1_1.pdf | title=National Award for Geoscience & Technology - Prof. Sunil Bajpai | year=2018 | publisher=Ministry of Earth Sciences | website=www.moes.gov.in | access-date=2024-05-14}}</ref>
* ''[https://www.marinespecies.org/traits/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1407326 Ptilotrypa bajpaii]''<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Swami |first1=Narendra K. |last2=Ernst |first2=Andrej |last3=Tripathi |first3=Satish C. |last4=Barman |first4=Prasenjit |last5=Bharti |first5=S.K. |last6=Rana |first6=Y.P. |year=2019 |title=A new cryptostome bryozoan Ptilotrypa from the Upper Ordovician Yong Limestone Formation: Tethyan sequence of Kumaun Higher Himalaya, India |journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=93 |issue=3 |pages=585–591 |doi=10.1017/jpa.2018.94 |bibcode=2019JPal...93..585S |s2cid=135358848 |issn=0022-3360}}</ref> a fossil bryozoan, and ''Limnocythere bajpaii''<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Khosla |first1=S. C. |last2=Nagori |first2=M. L. |year=2007 |title=Ostracoda from the Inter-trappean Beds of Mohgaon-Haveli, Chhindwara District, Madhya Pradesh |journal=Journal of the Geological Society of India |s2cid=134191312 |language=en}}</ref> a fossil ostracod are named after Bajpai in recognition of his contributions

==Collaborators==

[[Hans Thewissen|J. G. M. Thewissen]], the Dutch-American Paleontologist from the [[Northeast Ohio Medical University]], Rootstow, whose research is mainly focused on whale evolution, and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGh78Ou6Zx4 Daryl Domning] from [[Howard University]], [[Washington D.C.]], specialist of fossil sirenians have been the main collaborators of Bajpai.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Bajpai |first1=Sunil |last2=Thewissen |first2=J. G. M. |last3=Kapur |first3=Vivesh Vir |last4=Tiwari |first4=B. N. |last5=Sahni |first5=Ashok |year=2006 |title=Eocene and Oligocene sirenians (Mammalia) from Kachchh, India |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1671/0272-4634%282006%2926%5B400%3AEAOSMF%5D2.0.CO%3B2 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |language=en |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=400–410 |doi=10.1671/0272-4634(2006)26[400:EAOSMF]2.0.CO;2 |s2cid=86682899 |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Nummela |first1=Sirpa |last2=Thewissen |first2=J. G. M. |last3=Bajpai |first3=Sunil |last4=Hussain |first4=S. Taseer |last5=Kumar |first5=Kishor |year=2004 |title=Eocene evolution of whale hearing |url=http://www.nature.com/articles/nature02720 |journal=Nature |volume=430 |issue=7001 |pages=776–778 |doi=10.1038/nature02720|pmid=15306808 |bibcode=2004Natur.430..776N |s2cid=4372872 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last1=Bajpai |first1=Sunil |last2=Domning |first2=Daryl P. |year=1997 |title=A new dugongine sirenian from the early Miocene of India |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1997.10010965 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=219–228 |doi=10.1080/02724634.1997.10010965 |bibcode=1997JVPal..17..219B |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite journal |last1=Baipai |first1=Sunil |last2=Domning |first2=Daryl P. |last3=Das |first3=D.P. |last4=Velez-Juarbe |first4=Jorge |last5=Mishra |first5=V. P. |year=2010 |title=A new fossil sirenian (Mammalia, Dugonginae) from the Miocene of India |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1127/0077-7749/2010/0082 |journal=Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen |volume=258 |issue=1 |pages=39–50 |doi=10.1127/0077-7749/2010/0082 |issn=0077-7749|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Selected publications==
* {{Cite journal |last1=Bajpai |first1=Sunil |last2=Gingerich |first2=Philip D. |year=1998 |title=A new Eocene archaeocete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from India and the time of origin of whales |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA |language=en |volume=95 |issue=26 |pages=15464–15468 |doi=10.1073/pnas.95.26.15464 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=28065 |pmid=9860991|bibcode=1998PNAS...9515464B |doi-access=free }}
* Bajpai, Sunil; Kapur, Vivesh V; Das, Debasis P; Tiwari, B N; Saravanan, N; Sharma, Ritu (2005). [http://palaeontologicalsociety.in/publication.php Early Eocene land mammals from the Vastan Lignite Mine, District Surat (Gujarat), western India] Journal of the Palaeontological Society of India.
* Bajpai, Sunil; Kay, Richard F.; Williams, Blythe A.; Das, Debasis P.; Kapur, Vivesh V.; Tiwari, B. N. (2008). "The oldest Asian record of Anthropoidea". ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA''. '''105''' (32): 11093–11098. [[doi:10.1073/pnas.0804159105]]. [[ISSN (identifier)|ISSN]] 0027-8424.
* {{Cite journal | author1=Bajpai, S. | author2=Sahni, A. | year=2009 | title= India's fossil biota: Current perspectives and Emerging Approaches | journal=Journal of Biosciences | volume=34 | issue=5, special issue | doi=10.1007/s12038-009-0082-7 }}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Spoor |first1=F. |last2=Bajpai |first2=S. |last3=Hussain |first3=S. T. |last4=Kumar |first4=K. |last5=Thewissen |first5=J. G. M. |year=2002 |title=Vestibular evidence for the evolution of aquatic behaviour in early cetaceans |url=http://www.nature.com/articles/417163a |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=417 |issue=6885 |pages=163–166 |doi=10.1038/417163a |pmid=12000957 |bibcode=2002Natur.417..163S |s2cid=4331789 |issn=0028-0836|url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Thewissen |first1=J. G. M. |last2=Cooper |first2=Lisa Noelle |last3=Clementz |first3=Mark T. |last4=Bajpai |first4=Sunil |last5=Tiwari |first5=B. N. |year=2007 |title=Whales originated from aquatic artiodactyls in the Eocene epoch of India |url=http://www.nature.com/articles/nature06343 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=450 |issue=7173 |pages=1190–1194 |doi=10.1038/nature06343 |pmid=18097400 |bibcode=2007Natur.450.1190T |s2cid=4416444 |issn=0028-0836|url-access=subscription }}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://iitr.ac.in/Careers/static/DOFA/2022/Institute_Chair_Professor_and_Professorial_Chair.pdf Sunil Bajpai, Institute Chair Professor, IIT Roorkee]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bajpai, Sunil}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Panjab University alumni]]
[[Category:Indian paleontologists]]
[[Category:Vertebrate paleontologists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:1961 births]]

Sunil Bajpai - Revision history

Imtiaz Qureshi: Added the article initial version