divides economic and environmental history into three fundamental social periods – agricultural society, industrial society and consumer society. His thesis is that the current urgency of the climate problem and the glut of plastic waste is due to the flooding of markets with cheap oil from the late 1950s onwards. The corresponding anthology (Pfister 1995b) experienced a second edition in 1996. An enlarged synthesis in English was published in 2010. History of nature induced disasters From 1882 to 1976, Switzerland was largely spared natural disasters. Pfister demonstrates that this "disaster gap" () contributed to natural risks being underestimated until the late 1980s. It was not until this time that natural disasters were discovered as an attractive topic in historical research. In his "Weather Hindcast" (1999), Pfister links the climate variations of the last five hundred years in Switzerland with the description of severe natural disasters. He postulates that natural disasters can be regarded as pacemakers of modernization and, at least in Switzerland, were fundamental for the development of a nationwide solidarity between the poor mountain regions and the wealthy regions in the Swiss Plateau. With these theses he succeeded in giving a new depth to the primarily cultural-historical discussion about the interpretation and perception of disasters. He has written several articles on natural disasters and, together with Christof Mauch, published an anthology on this topic in 2009. Distinctions Christian Pfister was awarded the following distinctions: Theodor Kocher-Prize of the Bern University (1986) Honorary Member of Romanian Scientists’ Academy (1997) Eduard Brückner-Prize for "outstanding interdisciplinary achievements in climate research" (2000) Bronze Medal of the Faculty of Sciences of Masaryk-University in Brno (Czech Republic) "for his valuable contribution to the development of scientific cooperation and to the progress of historical climate research" (2009) Doctor honoris causa of the Universidad Ricardo Palma in Lima "en reconocimiento a su destacada trayectoria profesional y por sus aportes en el camp de la Historia del Clima" (2010) Publications (selection) Monographs and important articles Agrarkonjunktur und Witterungsverlauf im westlichen Schweizer Mittelland zur Zeit der Ökonomischen Patrioten 1755–1797. Ein Beitrag zur Umwelt- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte des 18. Jahrhunderts. Geographisches Institut der Universität Bern, Bern 1975. Das Klima der Schweiz von 1525–1860 und seine Bedeutung in der Geschichte von Bevölkerung und Landwirtschaft. Haupt, Bern 1984. Bevölkerungsgeschichte und historische Demographie 1500–1800 (= Enzyklopädie deutscher Geschichte. Bd. 28). Oldenbourg, München 1994, . Im Strom der Modernisierung. Bevölkerung, Wirtschaft und Umwelt im Kanton