[H]abeck has been extremely popular throughout his political career. Author and translator, politician and philosopher -- with his tousled and unshaven look, he has always seems relaxed and approachable.

Habeck was in his early 30s when he joined the environmentalist Green Party in 2002. At that time, the Greens were junior partners to the Social Democrats in the German government. That coalition was ousted from power in 2005 at the beginning of what would come to be known as the Merkel era.

Before entering politics, Habeck looked destined for an academic career. He initially studied philosophy, German language and literature and philology before earning a master's degree in 1996 and being awarded his doctorate in 2000. He also spent a year at Denmark's Roskilde University, where he picked up fluent Danish.

People are often dazzled by his conversational grasp of philosophical matters. But there are others who are driven to distraction by what they see as his philosophical flippancy: his habit, for instance, of tossing quotes by great thinkers into a discussion.

Habeck initially earned a living as a writer, co-authoring detective stories and children's books with his wife, Andrea Paluch. Together with their four sons, they live in Flensburg, the capital of the state of Schleswig-Holstein. Germany's northernmost city lies just 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border with Denmark, in a region that is home to a strong Danish-speaking minority.

Habeck's political career really got going in 2012 when he was appointed as Schleswig-Holstein's environment minister -- a post he would hold for six years. During that time, he built a reputation as an easygoing, pragmatic Green politician who always had an ear for his SPD coalition partners, as well as for staunch conservatives in the farming community.

This gave the hands-on politician a platform for his efforts to push for a profound shift in Germany's energy policy. As a "windy state," Schleswig-Holstein is suited for wind power, and Habeck set for himself the tough task of winning people over to install giant wind turbines. And it seems he succeeded: From 2012 to 2016, the amount of wind energy generated in Schleswig-Holstein nearly doubled.