FAST FACTS — ANGELA MERKEL

(CNN) — Here’s a look at the life of the first female chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel:

Personal

— Birth date: July 17, 1954

— Birth place: Hamburg, Germany

— Birth name: Angela Dorothea Kasner

— Father: Horst Kasner, a Lutheran minister

— Mother: Herlind Kasner, an English teacher

— Marriages: Joachim Sauer (1998-present); Ulrich Merkel (1977-1982, divorced)

— Education: University of Leipzig, B.S., 1978; German Academy of Sciences, Ph.D, 1986

— Religion: Lutheran

Timeline

1978-1990: Research associate at Zentralinstitut fur Physikalische Chemie in Berlin.

1990: Becomes press officer for Demokratischer Aufbruch (DA or Democratic Awakening).

December 1990: Elected to the German Bundestag.

1991: Named Minister of Women and Young People by Chancellor Helmut Kohl and became deputy chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

1994: Minister of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.

1998: General Secretary of the CDU.

April 10, 2000: Becomes first female chairperson of the CDU.

Oct. 10, 2005: Strikes a deal with Gerhard Schroeder’s Social Democrats that will make her the first female chancellor of Germany.

Nov. 22, 2005: Sworn in as the first female chancellor of Germany.

Jan. 13 and 16, 2006: Meets U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.

April 30, 2008: Receives the Charlemagne Prize, the “Citizens’ Prize for Services to European Unity.”

June 26, 2009: Makes first visit to the United States under President Obama’s administration.

Sept. 27, 2009: Re-elected chancellor of Germany.

Feb. 15, 2011: Receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Obama.

June 17, 2011: Meets with French President Nicholas Sarkozy to discuss a potential Greek bailout plan.

Dec. 5, 2011: Meets with Sarkozy to announce their proposed plan to impose fiscal discipline on members of the European Union.

Sept. 22, 2013: Re-elected chancellor of Germany.

Oct. 25, 2013: In the wake of reports that the U.S. National Security Agency eavesdropped on her cellphone, an angry Merkel says, “true change is necessary,” and “spying among friends is never acceptable.”

Dec. 17, 2013: Sworn in for a third term as chancellor of Germany.

June 12, 2015: Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office says it has dropped a probe into allegations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that the National Security Agency had bugged Merkel’s phone. The office states there was insufficient evidence to launch a successful prosecution.

Dec. 9, 2015: Named Person of the Year by Time magazine.

March 17, 2017: Makes first visit to the United States under President Trump’s administration.

Sept. 24, 2017: Wins a fourth term as German Chancellor, but her party’s lead in parliament is cut to 33.5 percent, and the country faces a surge in support for the far right. The hard-right Alternative for Germany becomes the third-largest group in the national parliament.

March 4, 2018: Social Democratic Party votes to renew a government coalition with Merkel’s Christian Democrats, paving the way for her fourth term as chancellor and ending the almost half-year of political deadlock and painful negotiations.

April 27, 2018: Makes her second state visit to the U.S. since Trump has been in office.

ERIC VIDAL