Angela Dorothea Merkel is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. Merkel previously served as Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union from 2000 to 2018. Merkel was born in Hamburg in West Germany. Her family moved to East Germany when she was an infant. Merkel obtained a doctorate in quantum chemistry in 1986 and worked as a research scientist until 1989.