2012
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This article is about the year 2012. For the film, see 2012 (film). For other uses, see 2012 (disambiguation).
| Millennium: | 3rd millennium |
|---|---|
| Centuries: | 20th century – 21st century – 22nd century |
| Decades: | 1980s 1990s 2000s – 2010s – 2020s 2030s 2040s |
| Years: | 2009 2010 2011 – 2012 – 2013 2014 2015 |
| Gregorian calendar | 2012 MMXII |
| Ab urbe condita | 2765 |
| Armenian calendar | 1461 ԹՎ ՌՆԿԱ |
| Assyrian calendar | 6762 |
| Bahá'í calendar | 168–169 |
| Bengali calendar | 1419 |
| Berber calendar | 2962 |
| British Regnal year | 60 Eliz. 2 – 61 Eliz. 2 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2556 |
| Burmese calendar | 1374 |
| Byzantine calendar | 7520–7521 |
| Chinese calendar | 辛卯年十二月初八日 (4648/4708-12-8) — to —
壬辰年十一月十九日(4649/4709-11-19) |
| Coptic calendar | 1728–1729 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 2004–2005 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5772–5773 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 2068–2069 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1934–1935 |
| - Kali Yuga | 5113–5114 |
| Holocene calendar | 12012 |
| Iranian calendar | 1390–1391 |
| Islamic calendar | 1433–1434 |
| Japanese calendar | Heisei 24 (平成24年) |
| Korean calendar | 4345 |
| Minguo calendar | ROC 101 民國101年 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2555 |
| Unix time | 1325376000–1356998399 |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 2012 |
2012 (MMXII) is a leap year that started on a Sunday in the Gregorian calendar, and it is the current year. It is the 2012th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 12th year of the 3rd millennium and of the 21st century, and the 3rd of the 2010s.
There are a variety of popular beliefs about the year 2012. These beliefs range from the spiritually transformative to the apocalyptic, and center upon various contemporary interpretations of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar. Scientists have disputed the apocalyptic versions.[1]
Contents |
Events
January
- January 20 - January 28 – A series of co-ordinated bombing attacks in Kano, Nigeria, results in 185 deaths. The attacks are blamed on the radical Islamist group Boko Haram,[2] 11 of whom are killed in a shootout in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri.[3]
- January 23 – The European Union formally adopts an embargo against Iran in protest of that nation's continued effort to enrich uranium.[4]
February
- February 6 – Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, marking the 60th anniversary of her accession to the thrones of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and the 60th anniversary of her becoming Head of the Commonwealth.[5][6]
Predicted and scheduled events
May
- May 12 – August 12 – The 2012 World Expo is to be held in Yeosu, South Korea.[7]
June
- June 6 – The century's second and last solar transit of Venus occurs. The next pair are predicted to occur in 2117 and 2125.[8]
July
- July 27 – August 12 – 2012 Summer Olympics held in London.[9]
August
- August 6–20 – Mars Science Laboratory, also known as the Curiosity rover, is scheduled to land on Mars.[10]
December
- December 21 – The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, notably used by the pre-Columbian Mayan civilization among others, completes a "great cycle" of thirteen b'ak'tuns (periods of 144,000 days each) since the mythical creation date of the calendar's current era.[11][12]
- December 31 – The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends.[13]
Date unknown
- China will launch the Kuafu spacecraft.
- Pleiades, a proposed supercomputer built by Intel and SGI for NASA's Ames Research Center, will be completed, reaching a peak performance of 10 Petaflops (10 quadrillion floating point operations per second).[14]
- Sequoia, a proposed super computer built by IBM for the National Nuclear Security Administration will be completed, reaching a peak performance of 20 Petaflops.[15]
- On the Sun, the solar maximum of Solar Cycle 24 in the 11-year sunspot cycle is forecast to occur. Solar Cycle 24 is regarded to have commenced January 2008, and on average will reach its peak of maximal sunspot activity around 2012. The period between successive solar maxima averages 11 years (the Schwabe cycle), and the previous solar maximum of Solar Cycle 23 occurred in 2000–2002.[16] During the solar maximum the Sun's magnetic poles will reverse.[17]
- The Kars–Tbilisi–Baku railway across the Caucasus is scheduled to be completed sometime in 2012.[18]
Deaths
Main article: Deaths in 2012
Further information: Category:2012 deaths
January
- January 1 – Kiro Gligorov, 1st President of the Republic of Macedonia (b. 1917)
- January 3 – Josef Škvorecký, Czech writer (b. 1924)
- January 9 – Malam Bacai Sanhá, 6th and 12th President of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1947)
- January 13 – Rauf Denktaş, 1st President of Northern Cyprus (b. 1924)
- January 15 – Manuel Fraga Iribarne, Spanish politician (b. 1922)
- January 20
- Etta James, American singer (b. 1938)
- Jiří Raška, Czech ski jumper (b. 1941)
- January 24 – Theodoros Angelopoulos, Greek filmmaker (b. 1935)
- January 29 – Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, 9th President of Italy (b. 1918)
February
- February 1 – Wisława Szymborska, Polish poet and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1923)
- February 3
- Ben Gazzara, American actor (b. 1930)
- Samuel Youd, British author (b. 1922)
- February 11 – Whitney Houston, American singer and actress (b. 1963)
Major religious holidays
- January 6 – Christmas Day (Celebrated by the Armenian Church)
- January 7 – Christmas Day (December 25 in the Julian Calendar, celebrated by some Eastern Orthodox Christians)
- February 1 – Imbolc, a Cross-quarter day (Celebrated on February 2 in some places)
- February 22 – Ash Wednesday – Western Christianity
- March 8
- March 20 – Spring Equinox, Persian New Year, also known as Ostara
- April 1 – Ramanavami – Hinduism
- April 6
- Good Friday – Western Christianity
- Hanuman Jayanti – Hinduism
- April 7 – Passover – Judaism
- April 8 – Easter – Western Christianity
- April 13 – Vaisakhi - Sikhism
- April 15 – Easter – Eastern Christianity
- May 1 – Beltane, a Cross-quarter day
- May 27 – Shavuot – Judaism
- June 4 – Vesākha – Buddhism[19]
- June 20 – Summer solstice, also known as Midsummer
- July 20 – Ramadan begins – Islam
- August 1 – Lammas, a Cross-quarter day
- August 2 – Raksha Bandhan – Hinduism
- August 10 – Janmashtami – Hinduism
- August 19 – Eid al Fitr – Islam
- September 17 – Rosh Hashanah – Judaism
- September 21 – Autumn Equinox, also known as Mabon
- September 26 – Yom Kippur – Judaism
- October 1 – Sukkot – Judaism
- October 2 – Mehregan – Zoroastrianism and Persian Culture
- October 24 – Vijaya Dashami/Dusshera – Hinduism
- October 26 – Eid al-Adha, a religious festival in Islam
- November 1 – Samhain, a Cross-quarter day, Neopagan new year and Christian All Saints' Day
- November 13 – Diwali – Sikhism - Hinduism
- November 15 – Islamic New Year
- December 9 – Hanukkah – Judaism
- December 25 – Christmas – Western Christianity
In fiction
Main article: Works of fiction set in 2012
See also
References
- ^ "2012: Beginning of the End or Why the World Won't End?". NASA.
- ^ The Guardian
- ^ "AFP: Nigerian troops 'kill 11 Islamists' in northeast". Google.com. 2012-01-28. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5itcdd2cpwa4egMdV51x41kJ9fzUA?docId=CNG.3130692da5b8a605890904cff0c6413b.e21. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
- ^ BBC News
- ^ The Government of Canada (January 23, 2012). "Official Canadian website for the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II". http://www.pch.gc.ca/eng/1296669421850/1296669769856. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
- ^ "Diamond Jubilee: Queen celebrating 60-year reign". BBC News UK. bbc.co.uk. 6 February 2012. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16896731. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
- ^ "2012 World Expo (English)". http://eng.expo2012.or.kr/eng/main.asp. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
- ^ NASA. "NASA Transit of Venus". http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/transit12.html. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
- ^ "London 2012". http://www.london2012.com/. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
- ^ "NASA's Next Mars Rover Hoisted Atop Rocket". Space.com. http://www.space.com/13501-nasa-mars-rover-curiosity-atlas5-rocket.html. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
- ^ Susan Milbrath, Curator of Latin American Art and Archaeology, Florida Museum of Natural History, quoted in USA Today, Wednesday, March 28, 2007, p. 11D
- ^ "The Sky Is Not Falling" New Wave, Tulane University, June 25, 2008.
- ^ Grubb, M. and J. Depledge (2001). "The Seven Myths of Kyoto" (PDF). Climate Policy 1 (2): 169. http://www.econ.cam.ac.uk/rstaff/grubb/publications/JR09.pdf. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
- ^ "NASA, Intel, SGI Plan to 'Soup Up' Supercomputer". Nas.nasa.gov. http://www.nas.nasa.gov/News/Releases/2008/05-07-08.html. Retrieved 2010-06-02.
- ^ Gonsalves, Antone. "IBM Tapped For 20-Petaflop Government Supercomputer". Informationweek.com. http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/supercomputers/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=213000842&subSection=News. Retrieved 2010-06-02.
- ^ Phillips, Tony (2008-01-10). "Solar Cycle 24 Begins". Science@NASA. NASA. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/10jan_solarcycle24.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
- ^ "The Sun Does a Flip". Science@NASA. NASA. 2001-02-15. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast15feb_1.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
- ^ National Geographic, August 2010, page 62.
- ^ "2012 Calendar of Uposatha Days". http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sila/uposatha2012.html.
