NUCLEAR TECH POWERPLAYERS in recent history
In March 1953, Carter began nuclear power school, a six-month non-credit course covering nuclear power plant operation at the Union College in Schenectady.[9] His intent was to eventually work aboard USS Seawolf, which was planned to be the second U.S. nuclear submarine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter
The 1973 oil crisis called attention to the need to consolidate energy policy.[13][14][15] On August 4, 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed into law The Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977 (Pub.L. 95–91, 91 Stat. 565, enacted August 4, 1977), which created the Department of Energy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Energy#Formation_and_consolidation
At school Merkel learned to speak Russian fluently, and was awarded prizes for her proficiency in Russian and mathematics. She was the best in her class in mathematics and Russian, and completed her school education with the best possible average Abitur grade 1.0.[40]
Merkel continued her education at Karl Marx University, Leipzig, where she studied physics from 1973 to 1978.[32
After being awarded a doctorate (Dr. rer. nat.) for her thesis on quantum chemistry in 1986,[46] she worked as a researcher and published several papers.[47] In 1986, she was able to travel freely to West Germany to attend a congress; she also participated in a multi-week language course in Donetsk, in the then-Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.[48]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Merkel#Education_and_scientific_career
As the protégée of Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Merkel was appointed as Minister for Women and Youth in 1991, later becoming Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in 1994.