Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel (born in Hamburg in 1954) is a German politician and physicist who earned a doctorate in the natural sciences. She grew up in East Germany and was elected to the German Bundestag in 1990. From 1991 to 1994, she served as Federal Minister for Women and Youth, and from 1994 to 1998 as Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. She chaired the Christian Democratic Union of Germany from 2000 to 2018. From 2005 to 2021, she served as Chancellor of Germany, becoming the first woman and the first person from the former East Germany to hold the office. She ended her active political career in 2021.