STEM In The Bundestag

The current issue of the New Yorker has a profile of German Chancellor Angela Merkel by George Packer (The Quiet German).  Merkel is the rarity among public leaders - - the uber-STEM educational foundation.  She has a doctorate in quantum chemistry.

From the article:

"People who have followed her career point to Merkel's scientific habit of mind as a key to her political success.  "She is about the best analyst of any given situation that I could imagine," a senior official in her government said.  "She looks at various vectors, extrapolates, and says, "This is where I think it's going."  Trained to see the invisible world in terms of particles and waves, Merkel learned to approach problems methodically, drawing comparisons, running scenarios, weighing risks, anticipating reactions, and then, even after making a decision, letting it sit for a while before acting.  She once told a story from her childhood of standing on a diving board fro a full hour of a swimming lesion until, at the bell, she finally jumped."

Also from the article:

""She is a master of listening," the longtime political associate said.  "In a conversation, she speaks twenty per cent, you speak eighty per cent.  She gives everybody the feeling "I want to hear what you have . . .""