Oskar von Hinüber, a well-known Indologist, was born in Hanover in 1939. From 1960 to 1966 he studied at Universität Tübingen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, receiving his Ph.D. in 1966. From 1965 to 1981 von Hinüber served as Assistant and then Associate Professor at Mainz and from 1981 was Professor of Indology at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. He retired from service in March, 2006.
von Hinüber's special interests are Pāli, Sanskrit, and Middle Indo-Aryan language, the history of technology in South Asia, inscriptions of the Northwest, and manuscripts and manuscript traditions in South and Southeast Asia. Among his many publications, the Handbook of Pali Literature is especially indicative of his comprehensive learning and scholarly authority.