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One wonders how world leaders get to where they are now.  Is it all hard work? Just luck?

Angela Merkel, for instance.  Did she always know she wanted to be the Chancellor of Germany? When she was 6 was she drawing pictures of passing legislature and giving speeches in front of thousands of stuffed animals?  Looking at her past, she did not start out on the path of politics, but rather science.

Merkel started her post-secondary education at the University of Leipzig, where she studied physics, graduating in 1978.  She then worked and studied at the Central Institute for Physical Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin-Adlershof from 1978 to 1990.  After being awarded a doctorate for her thesis on quantum chemistry she worked as a researcher.  It was around this time, after becoming more and more involed in politics, she became the deputy spokesperson of the new pre-unification caretaker government under Lothar de Maizière.

Soon after, she was elected to the Bundestag (the German Parliment).  There, she has been Minister for Women and Youth and the Minister for the Environment and Nuclear Safety.  Merkel was also named Secretary-General of her political party.

On 22 November 2005, Merkel assumed the office of Chancellor of Germany, becoming its first female chancellor and one of the few female leaders in the world!

So to recap:

• Studied physics
• PhD in Quantum Chemistry
• Deputy Spokesperson
• Bundestag (German Parliment)
• Minister for Women and Youth
• Minister for the Environment and Nuclear Safety
• Secretary-General
• Chancellor of Germany

Easy as strudel.

Tags: Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, PhD