In the first part of this paper the theory of Frobenius manifolds is applied to the problem of classification of Hamiltonian systems of partial differential equations depending on a small parameter. Also developed is a deformation theory of integrable hierarchies including the subclass of integrable hierarchies of topological type. Many well-known examples of integrable hierarchies, such as the Korteweg–de Vries, non-linear Schr ̈odinger, Toda, Boussinesq equations, and so on, belong to this subclass that also contains new integrable hierarchies. Some of these new integrable hierarchies may be important for applications. Properties of the solutions to these equations are studied in the second part. Consideration is given to the comparative study of the local properties of perturbed and unperturbed solutions near a point of gradient catastrophe. A Universality Conjecture is formulated describing the various types of critical behaviour of solutions to perturbed Hamiltonian systems near the point of gradient catastrophe of the unperturbed solution.
