Background
Chitaley was born Shyamala Dixit in 1918 in Maharashtra, India. Raised mostly by her father (her mother died when she was 9 years old), she also educated at home.
Chitaley was born Shyamala Dixit in 1918 in Maharashtra, India. Raised mostly by her father (her mother died when she was 9 years old), she also educated at home.
Chitaley received a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science from the University of Nagpur and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Reading, having received an International Federation of University Women scholarship in the process.
Following completion of her Doctor of Philosophy, Chitaley taught at the Institute of Science, Nagpur, The Institute of Science, Bombay, and was named a fellow of the Geological Society of London. She held the chairs in botany at each institution until a mandatory retirement at age 60. Her research in India focused on the flora of the Upper Cretaceous.
While searching for a teaching job in the United States, Chitaley became an American citizen and sold Avon Products door-to-door.
In 1980, Chitaley was hired by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History as the museum"s first paleobotanist. Chitaley built the museum"s paleobotany collection from approximately 500 pieces to over 30,000 by acquiring a disused collection from the University of Cincinnati worth millions of dollars.
Chitaley"s research in Cleveland focused on Lycopodiophyta from the Devonian Period Cleveland Shales. In 1996 she discovered a new Devonian lycopsid, which she named Clevelandodendron ohioensis in honor of Cleveland"s 1996 bicentennial.
Chitaley also developed a technique of preserving fossilized material in coal balls using wax, which came to be known as the "Chitaley technique".
In 2006, a newly discovered species of conifer from the Permian Period, Prototaxoxylom chitaleyii was named in Chitaley"s honor.