From lab to leadership: How five politicians with science backgrounds led their nations

Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, who holds degrees in both environmental engineering and physics, was chosen as Mexico's first female president. There is now much conjecture on Sheinbaum Pardo's potential preference for evidence-based decision-making.

An article published in the scientific journal Nature looks into how five other scientists-turned-world leaders fared in office, and whether their scientific backgrounds were beneficial or detrimental.

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Herbert Hoover, US President (1929–33)

In the 1890s, Herbert Hoover pursued his studies in geology at the newly established Stanford University in California. After taking office as US Secretary of Commerce in 1921, Hoover established himself as a capable technocrat.

However, David Cole, head of the Science History Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, told scientific journal Nature that he may have been as ignorant to the greater social, cultural, and political problems that emerged as the nation fell into the Great Depression due to his technocratic bent.

According to Cole, many of the government initiatives aimed at boosting employment and pulling the nation out of the Great Depression were initiated under Hoover. Cole continues, "Hoover was politically tone deaf; he worked himself nearly to death trying to engineer the country out of the depression."

Margaret Thatcher, UK prime minister (1979–90)

As a chemist by training, Margaret Thatcher is arguably Britain's most well-known and controversial prime leader.

In 1979, she spearheaded the electoral triumph of the right-wing Conservative party in the United Kingdom, which came about as a result of a series of strikes by over 4 million workers demanding greater wages than they were receiving.

Throughout her 11-year tenure as prime minister, Thatcher reduced expenditure on housing, health care, and education while privatising state-owned businesses and public utilities like gas, electricity, and water. Her popularity suffered from the funding reductions and the rising jobless rate.

APJAbdul Kalam, president of India (2002–07)

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen (A. P. J.) Abdul Kalam was well-known across the country even before he was elected president.

Kalam was chosen as India's eleventh president in 2002 thanks to the backing of both the opposition and the ruling parties. Although the prime minister serves as head of state and administration, the president of India has the authority to veto laws that parliament has enacted.

For young scientists in particular, like Rohini Godbole, a particle physicist at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore,Kalam being made the president of the country was"hugely inspiring."

Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany, 2005–21

After being elected as chancellor of Germany in 2005, Angela Merkel, who has training in quantum chemistry became the country's first female chancellor. For 16 years in power as the leader of the center-right Christian Democrats, she was Germany's second-longest-serving head of state.

Political scientist Matt Qvortrup of Coventry University in the UK claims that she was well-known as a political leader for her pragmatic approach to handling a variety of challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the European financial crisis, and Germany's phaseout of nuclear energy.

Yukio Hatoyama, Prime Minister of Japan (2009–10)

The tenure of Yukio Hatoyama as Japan's prime minister was short. According to Oki at the University of Tokyo, Hatoyama was a leftist whose thinking was too "pure" and speculative.

Hatoyama graduated from Stanford University with a PhD in industrial engineering. Hatoyama took office as Japan's 93rd prime minister in September 2009 after his Democratic Party of Japan won an election. The party got to work right away and startedslashing government expenditure, including money for science-related initiatives.

Hatoyama resigned within eight months of assuming office due to his inability to carry out his campaign promise to relocate a contentious US military station from the island of Okinawa.

(With inputs from agencies)