Angela Merkel, a physicist.
Angela Merkel. The woman who kept Germany’s economy up while other European countries struggled. Elected for the 3rd term as the federal president of Germany. So, how is she different? What has made her this successful?
To understand “Angela Enigma,” as Time magazine calls her, its best to start with a brief idea of her accomplishments. In 2005 she was first elected as the Chancellor of Germany. Now, in 2013, she is serving her 3rd elected term as the chancellor. She has done nothing but boost Germany’s economy.
Merkel has been able to decrease unemployment from 11% to nearly 6%, whereas E.U. countries gradually had a 3% increase, with Spain and Greece having 14% and 20% increases respectively. Following that, in 2012 Germany was the only E.U. country to have a budget surplus of 0.2%.
In terms of economics, this shows that while other countries in the European Union either had struggles and debts, or had barely balanced their budget, Germany balanced its budget and was even able to have “extra” money.
Merkel in the spotlight
The changes in Germany’s economy even have a special name, “Wirtschaftswunder 2.0,” known as the “economic boom.” To summarize, under Angela Merkel’s leadership, as Manila Buletin, a Filipino newspaper, puts it, progress has been made in three important areas
Unemployment
Public Finances
Economic Boom
When we talk about Germany, there is one name that comes to everyone’s mind: Angela Merkel. But who is Angela Merkel really?
Who is she?
Angela Merkel was born in 1954 in West Germany. She is the daughter of a pastor and an English teacher. Shortly after her birth, her family moved to the East of Germany. Growing up in East Germany actually brought her a lot of attention due to the fact that not only in 1960’s and 70’s but even now, East Germany is considered to be less developed with a lower standard of life and an economy dependent only on heavy industrial products, consequently with a bigger rate of unemployment than West Germany. Merkely studied physics at University before working at a Central Institute for Physical Chemistry and later earning a doctorate in Quantum Chemistry as a researcher.
During her university years she was known to be married and divorced and worked in many jobs, such as cocktail waitress, to earn money. As many know, until 1989, when the Berlin wall fell, she spent her time studying and researching in physics. She then began her career in politics as the Minister for Women and Youth, followed by the Minister for Environment and Nuclear Safety, before eventually making her way to the CDU in 2000. In 2005 she was elected as the chancellor and from then on, we know the story.
What is fascinating is the way her background has influenced and triggered her successful political career. (In the book The Future of Transatlantic Relations) she is said to have introduced a new type of leader to Germany. She doesn’t particularly fit the mold of a German chancellor, or, frankly, the mold she was expected to fit.
Mold breaker
As Angela was a protestant, she was not expected to divorce or actually run for office in Catholic, male-dominated party. As she was a woman from the East, she was not expected to be the chancellor. Many journalists and writers point out that her ability to make cold calculations and govern her country in what she calls “small steps” (Time magazine) is behind her successes with Germany’s economy. Consequently, behind her analytic mind lies her background and concentration in physics. As Dirk Kurbjuweit, writing in Der Spiegel, stated, “She wants to solve the problems. The bigger the problem, the bigger the chance of a Nobel Prize.”
Additionally, considering Germany’s history in the last century or so, “change” is a crucial word. From its wanted-to-be-forgotten role in World War II to the fall of Berlin wall, change is what Germans at the same time fear and desire. Quantum physics is similarly based on the uncertainty principle. This uncertainty principle indicates that a substance’s speed and whereabouts cannot be known at the same time accurately. As a researcher in quantum physics with a doctorate, Merkel is well aware of this basic principle and it shapes her way of thinking accordingly, broadening her mind to unexpected possibilities. By having this different perspective she was perhaps able to find different solutions for the economy of Germany.
As a teenager living in East Germany, the fall of Berlin Wall, a great change in the history of Germany, improved her life standards, and proved to her that changes are not something to be feared. She has stated, “I have experienced change as something good, not something to be avoided.” This seems to be her motto.
Angela Merkel and her story of success is a direct answer to a question asked question by students: “How will the things I learn at school be helpful in my daily life later on?”
Physics and politics, at first thought, don’t seem much related, do they?
Once again, Angela Merkel is the best example for how the intellectual problems we face in physics, chemistry, and math can broaden our perspective in the real world. Angela Merkel’s great political mind was actually born from a great physics mind. Physics has changed her perspective in a way that she feels emboldened to face the problems of her country and to look for answers. The “why’s and how’s” of science give an individual a shrewd kind of approach to problems, which is just how everyone speaks of Merkel.
As many European countries began struggling with their economics, Merkel didn’t take drastic steps, causing more detrimental effect. She did just the opposite. She stayed calm and didn’t make changes without considering the whole picture. Again, as a researcher who spent hours, maybe days, working on only one question, this was probably just her regular way of thinking.
With an example like Angela Merkel, a physisct running one of Europe’s biggest powers, keeping it’s economy still while other countries couldn’t, with every journalist realizing that she was able to do it because of “going at it like a physisct”, I found the answer I’ve been looking for. It’s not about how sciences we learn at school can benefit us in a specific topic, it’s about how they change our way of thinking, in to making us better problem solvers. The equations we learn at school, we might never use them again, for instance Merkel never used a physics information while trying to sort out how to decrease the unemployment rate, she just used the same patience she had while working out those equations.
