German Chancellor Angela Merkel

BERLIN, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to begin a second term after winning enough votes in Sunday's general election to form a new center-right government with her favored junior partner the Free Democratic Party (FDP).

Merkel grew up and got her early education in Templin before she went to the University of Leipzig, where she studied physics during 1973-1978. And then she worked and studied at the Central Institute for Physical Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin-Adlersh of from 1978 to 1990. She learned to speak Russian fluently. After being awarded a doctorate for her thesis on quantum chemistry, she worked as a researcher.

She is a scientist and a strong proponent of renewable and clean energy.