Eduard Brückner - The Sources and Consequences of Climate Change and Climate Variability in Historical Times

This anthology of studies by the eminent geographer and climate scientist Eduard Brückner (1862-1927) on anthropogenic climate change and the social, political and economic impact of climate variations on societies in historical times, assembles his pioneering work in English for the first time. The issues discussed by Brückner are now considered to be among the most pressing facing modern society and climate research. At the turn of the twentieth century, Brückner was one of the central protagonists in a vigorous debate in science and society about global climate variability and its political and economic significance.
The studies published here were chosen to demonstrate Brückner 's wide-ranging scientific interest in climate variability, his extensive empirical research and theoretical analysis of climate change, his assessment of contemporary analyses and thinking about anthropogenic climate change (such as the widespread concern about desiccation), and how he approached the questions of the transfer of scientific knowledge into society.
In many ways Brückner was a thoroughly modern scientist, convinced, for example, that the issue of climate change and its impact was of considerable scientific merit and that future climate changes are of great significance for the well-being of humankind as well as for the global balance of political and economic relations. Brückner 's formidable ideas should have a significant impact on our present views of climate, climate variability and climate impact.

Autorentext
Nico Stehr ist Inhaber des Karl Mannheim Lehrstuhls für Kulturwissenschaften an der Zeppelin University, sowie Fellow des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts in Essen. Im akademischen Jahr 2002/2003 war er Paul-Lazarsfeld-Professor der Human- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Wien.

Inhalt
Eduard Brückner's Ideas Relevant in His Time and Today.- 1. Groundwater and Typhus.- 2. Fluctuations of Water Levels in the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, and Baltic Sea Relative to Weather.- 3. How Constant is Today's Climate.- 4. Climate Change since 1700.- 5. About the Influence of Snow Cover on the Climate of the Alps.- 6. Influence of Climate Variability on Harvest and Grain Prices in Europe.- 7. Weather Prophets.- 8. An Inquiry about the 35-Year-Period Climatic Variations.- 9. About Climate Variability.- 10. Climate Variability and Mass Migration.- 11. The Settlement of the United States as Controlled by Climate and Climate Oscillations.- List of Publications of Eduard Brückner.- Climate.- Glaciers.- Glacial Ages.- Morphology.- Hydrology.- Oceanography.- Polar Research.- Cartography.- Biographical.- Miscellaneous.- Name Index.