German Chancellor Angela Merkel stands in front of her election-campaign tour bus before a meeting in Berlin on September 16, 2013. Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters The world's most powerful woman earned her Ph.D. in quantum physics, presides over the richest economy in Europe, and is the central broker in a massive euro-bailout deal.

Germany's Angela Merkel is the undisputed leader of her political party, and she faces hardly any opposition in her now third parliamentary term as chancellor.

In honor of the Bundeskanzlerin's birthday, here's the story of Merkel's rise from humble beginnings under an oppressive East German regime to the top spot as Germany's leader.