Dr. J. Kropp, Senior scientist at PIK, he studied chemistry and physics and in 1992 he took a diploma in theoretical chemistry at the University of Oldenburg. From 1993-1998 he was research fellow at PIK, from 1998-2001 project leader of a research project on costal zone management at the Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, and from 2001 research analyst and member of staff of the German Advisory Council on Global Change to the Federal Government (WBGU). His research interests are the development of methods for integrated impact assessments, in particular, with respect to vulnerability, risk assessment, and adaptation to climate change and in the context of decision making and various institutional settings.
He leads several European joint projects (e.g. disaster and risk assessment) and has published numerous papers.Hans J. Schellnhuber ist Gründer und Direktor des Potsdam-Instituts für Klimafolgenforschung und Professor für Theoretische Physik an der Universität Potsdam. Er ist Mitglied in einer Reihe deutscher und internationaler wissenschaftlicher Gremien wie des 2007 mit dem Nobelpreis ausgezeichneten Weltklimarats IPCC und Vorsitzender des Wissenschaftlichen Beirats der Bundesregierung Globale Umweltveränderungen (WBGU).

This book gives insight into hard-to-understand problems of catastrophies. It is the first book on theories of disaster. Based on physical and mathematical theories, the general principles of disaster appearance are explained.

I. General.- 1. Entropy, Complexity, Predictability, and Data Analysis of Time Series and Letter Sequences.- 2. Wavelet Based Multifractal Formalism: Applications to DNA Sequences, Satellite Images of the Cloud Structure, and Stock Market Data.- II. Climate Systems.- 3. Space-Time Variability of the European Climate.- 4. Is Climate Predictable?.- 5. Atmospheric Persistence Analysis: Novel Approaches and Applications.- 6. Assessment and Management of Critical Events: The Breakdown of Marine Fisheries and The North Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation.- III. Biodynamics.- 7. Fractal and Multifractal Approaches in Physiology.- 8. Physiological Relevance of Scaling of Heart Phenomena.- 9. Local Scaling Properties for Diagnostic Purposes.- 10. Unstable Periodic Orbits and Stochastic Synchronization in Sensory Biology.- 11. Crowd Disasters and Simulation of Panic Situations.- IV. Nonlinear Economics.- 12. Investigations of Financial Markets Using Statistical Physics Methods.- 13. Market Fluctuations I: Scaling, Multiscaling, and Their Possible Origins.- 14. Market Fluctuations II: Multiplicative and Percolation Models, Size Effects, and Predictions.

Are there universal laws governing the persistence of weather, and is it possible to predict climate transitions as generated by natural or man-made perturbations? How can one quantify the roller-coaster dynamics of stock markets and anticipate mega-crashes? Can we diagnose the health condition of patients from heartbeat time-series analysis, which may even form the basis for infarct prevention? This book tackles these questions by applying advanced methods from statistical physics and related fields to all types of non-linear dynamics prone to disaster. The transdisciplinary analysis is organized in some dozen review articles written by world-class scientists.