Photo: Christoph Braun, CC0 — Source
German politician and quantum chemist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021, making her the first woman and first East German to hold the office. She led Europe's largest economy through the 2008 financial crisis, the European debt crisis, and the 2015 refugee crisis, during which she opened Germany's borders to over a million refugees. A physicist by training, she rose through politics after German reunification. Forbes named her the world's most powerful woman for 14 consecutive years. Her pragmatic, consensus-driven leadership style defined an era of European politics.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica