Shya Chitaley

Shyamala "Shya" Chitaley (15 February 1918 – 31 March 2013) was an Indian American Paleobotanist who had a nearly 60-year career of teaching and research in both the United States and India. She was the founder and first curator of the paleobotany department at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, winner of the 2010 Botanical Society of America Award for Contributions to Paleobotany, and author of approximately 150 publications.

Early life

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. As was traditional at the time, she married Dinkar Vaman Chitaley, a corporate lawyer, She held the chairs in botany at each institution until a mandatory retirement at age 60.

Career in the United States

Following her retirement from the Institute of Science, Bombay in 1978, Chitaley and her husband traveled to the United States to visit one of their sons who lived near Cleveland, Ohio. Chitaley also developed a technique of preserving fossilized material in coal balls using wax, which came to be known as the "Chitaley technique". In 2010 she won the Botanical Society of America award for her lifetime of contributions to paleobotany, which included nearly 150 publications. 2006: Medal for excellence in paleobotanical research and lifetime achievement award, Birbal-Savitri Sahni Foundation