Born Margaret Hilda Thatcher née Roberts, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (13 October 1925), a former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1979-1990). She studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford before qualifying as a barrister. She was appointed Secretary of State for Education and Science in 1970 government. In 1975 she became Leader of the Conservative Party, the first woman to head a major UK political party and subsequently Britain's first female Prime Minister. Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised deregulation, particularly of the financial sector, flexible labour markets, and the sale or closure of state-owned companies and withdrawal of subsidies to others. Thatcher's popularity sank amid recession and high unemployment, although economic recovery and the 1982 Falklands War brought a resurgence of support and she was re-elected in 1983. She survived an assassination attempt in 1984. She took a hard line against trade unions, and her tough rhetoric in opposition to the Soviet Union earned her the nickname of the "Iron Lady".