Donella Hager "Dana" Meadows[1][2] (March 13, 1941 – February 20, 2001) was an American environmental scientist, educator, and writer.
After a yearlong trip from England to Sri Lanka and back, she became a research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a member of a team in the department created by Jay Forrester, the inventor of system dynamics as well as the principle of magnetic data storage for computers.
Posthumously, she received the John H. Chafee Excellence in Environmental Affairs Award for 2001, presented by the Conservation Law Foundation.
[4] Her work is recognized as a formative influence on hundreds of other academic studies, government policy initiatives, and international agreements.
The award is given to an outstanding individual who has created actions in a global framework toward the sustainability goals Meadows expressed in her writings.
[citation needed] In 1972, Meadows was on the MIT team that produced the global computer model "World3" for the Club of Rome, providing the basis for The Limits to Growth.