Editing Angela Merkel (section)

==Academic career==
Merkel continued her education at [[Leipzig University|Karl Marx University, Leipzig]], where she studied [[physics]] from 1973 to 1978.<ref name="Werner-2005" /> While a student, she participated in the reconstruction of the ruin of the [[Moritzbastei]], a project students initiated to create their own club and recreation facility on campus. Such an initiative was unprecedented in the [[East Germany|GDR]] of that period, and initially resisted by the university. With the backing of the local leadership of the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|SED]] party, the project was allowed to proceed.<ref>{{cite news|language=de |work=Der Spiegel |date=27 March 2009 |url=https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/legendaere-clubs-a-949765.html |first=Torsten |last=Reitler |title=Drogenwahn auf der Dauerbaustelle |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100113154152/http://einestages.spiegel.de/static/authoralbumbackground/3852/drogenwahn_auf_der_baustelle.html |archive-date=13 January 2010 |access-date=19 August 2011 |url-status = live}}</ref>

Near the end of her studies, Merkel sought an assistant professorship at an engineering school. As a condition for getting the job, Merkel was told she would need to agree [[Unofficial collaborator (Stasi)|to report]] on her colleagues to officers of the [[Stasi]]. Merkel declined, using the excuse that she could not keep secrets well enough to be an effective spy.<ref name="Crawford, Alan Czuczka, Tony" />

Merkel worked and studied at the Central Institute for [[Physical Chemistry]] of the [[German Academy of Sciences Berlin|Academy of Sciences]] in [[Adlershof|Berlin-Adlershof]] from 1978 to 1990. At first, she and her husband [[squatting|squatted]] in [[Mitte]].<ref>{{cite news |language=en |publisher=Deutsche Welle |date=28 February 2008 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/i-was-a-squatter-reveals-german-chancellor-merkel/a-3156628 |access-date=18 May 2021 |title=I Was a Squatter, Reveals German Chancellor Merkel |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308230856/https://www.dw.com/en/i-was-a-squatter-reveals-german-chancellor-merkel/a-3156628 |url-status=live }}</ref> At the Academy of Sciences, she became a member of its FDJ secretariat. According to her former colleagues, she openly propagated [[Marxism]] as the secretary for "Agitation and Propaganda".<ref name="Spiegel1">{{cite magazine |date=14 May 2013 |title=How Close Was Merkel to the Communist System? |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/new-book-suggests-angela-merkel-was-closer-to-communism-than-thought-a-899768.html |access-date=18 May 2021 |magazine=Der Spiegel |archive-date=10 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510231524/https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/new-book-suggests-angela-merkel-was-closer-to-communism-than-thought-a-899768.html |url-status=live }}</ref> However, Merkel has denied this claim and stated that she was secretary for culture, which involved activities like obtaining theatre tickets and organising talks by visiting Soviet authors.<ref name="Langguth106">{{cite book|title=Angela Merkel|last=Langguth|first=Gerd|publisher=dtv|year=2005|isbn=3-423-24485-2|location=Munich|pages=106–107|language=de|quote=Angela Merkel war allerdings kein 'einfaches Mitglied', sondern gehörte zum FDJ-Sekretariat des Instituts. Osten [Hans-Jörg Osten] kann sich nicht an die genaue Funktion seiner damaligen Kollegin erinnern. ... Er kann sich nicht definitiv daran erinnern, aber auch nicht ausschließen, dass Angela Merkel die Funktion eines Sekretärs für Agitation und Propaganda wahrnahm. [Angela Merkel was not just an 'ordinary member', but belonged to the FDJ secretariat of the institute. Osten cannot remember the exact function of his erstwhile colleague. ... He cannot remember definitely whether she performed the function of a secretary for agitation and propaganda, but he cannot exclude that possibility.]}}</ref> She stated: "I can only rely on my memory, if something turns out to be different, I can live with that."<ref name="Spiegel1" />

After being awarded a doctorate (''[[Dr. rer. nat.]]'') for her thesis on [[quantum chemistry]] in 1986,<ref>{{cite book|title=Untersuchung des Mechanismus von Zerfallsreaktionen mit einfachem Bindungsbruch und Berechnung ihrer Geschwindigkeitskonstanten auf der Grundlage quantenchemischer und statistischer Methoden (Investigation of the mechanism of decay reactions with single bond breaking and calculation of their rate constants on the basis of quantum chemical and statistical methods)|last=Merkel|first=Angela|publisher=[[Academy of Sciences of the German Democratic Republic]] (dissertation)|year=1986|location=Berlin|language=de}} cited in {{cite book|title=Angela Merkel|last=Langguth|first=Gerd|date=August 2005|publisher=DTV|isbn=3-423-24485-2|location=Munich|page=109|language=de}} and listed in the Catalogue of the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek under subject code 30 (Chemistry).</ref> she worked as a researcher and published several [[academic paper]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Saskia |date=20 April 2020 |title=The Secret to Germany's COVID-19 Success: Angela Merkel Is a Scientist |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/04/angela-merkel-germany-coronavirus-pandemic/610225/ |access-date=21 June 2023 |website=The Atlantic |language=en |archive-date=2 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200502085127/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/04/angela-merkel-germany-coronavirus-pandemic/610225/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Scopus preview – Merkel, Angela – Author details – Scopus |url=https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=24432527000 |access-date=21 June 2023 |website=www.scopus.com |archive-date=25 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525061545/https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=24432527000 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1986, she was allowed to travel to West Germany to attend a congress. She also participated in a multi-week Russian language{{which|date=January 2025}} course in [[Donetsk]], in the then-[[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thueringer-allgemeine.de/politik/wie-angela-merkel-beinahe-thueringerin-wurde-id220259981.html |title=Wie Angela Merkel beinahe Thüringerin wurde |newspaper=Thüringer Allgemeine |language=de |date=17 July 2014 |first=Wolfgang |last=Suckert |access-date=18 May 2021 |archive-date=1 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601194527/https://www.thueringer-allgemeine.de/politik/wie-angela-merkel-beinahe-thueringerin-wurde-id220259981.html |url-status=live }}</ref>