Angela Merkel was born in Hamburg on 17 July 1954, but spent most of her childhood in Templin, in Brandenburg, East Germany. After reading physics at Leipzig University (1973 1978), she conducted research into quantum chemistry at the Central Institute of Physical Chemistry at the Academy of Sciences in Berlin. She obtained her doctorate in 1986 with a thesis on calculating the velocity constants for simple hydrocarbon reactions.
In late 1989, Angela Merkel joined “Demokratischer Aufbruch” (Democratic New Beginning). She soon became their Press Spokeswoman and then, following the first free elections to the People’s Chamber of the then GDR on 18 March 1990, she was appointed Deputy Government Spokeswoman for Lothar de Maizière’s Government. She has been a member of the CDU (Christian Democratic Union of Germany) since August 1990, and a member of the German Bundestag, for the constituency of Stralsund, North Western Pomerania and Rügen, since December 1990. From 1991 to 1994 she served as Federal Minister for Women and Youth, subsequently becoming Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, a position she held until 1998.
From December 1991 until her election as General Secretary of the CDU on 7 November 1998, she held the post of Deputy Chairwoman of the CDU in Germany. She was simultaneously Chairwoman of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania CDU from May 1993 to May 2000. She has been Chairwoman of the CDU in Germany from April 2000 to December 2018. She also served as Chairwoman of the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group in the German Bundestag from September 2002 until she was first elected as Chancellor in November 2005.
Since her third re-election as Federal Chancellor on 14 March 2018, Angela Merkel has led a government of the CDU/CSU (Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union) in coalition with the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany).
