Angela Merkel

Merkel worked at East Germany's Academy of Sciences from 1978 to 1990 and earned a doctorate in physics before entering national politics. The upheavals of 1989 opened the route into political organising; she became Germany's chancellor in 2005. The break between two institutions is as interesting as the change of job title. A biography can follow a substantial scientific career into the very different demands of elections, party leadership and coalition government.