2011

This article is about the year 2011. For other uses, see 2011 (disambiguation).

Millennium:	3rd millennium
Centuries:	20th century 21st century 22nd century
Decades:	1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s
Years:	2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

2011 (MMXI) is the current year, which is a common year that started on a Saturday. In the Gregorian calendar, it is the 2011th year of the Common Era and the Anno Domini designation; the 11th year of the 3rd millennium and of the 21st century; and the 2nd of the 2010s decade.

The United Nations has designated 2011 the International Year of Forests and the International Year of Chemistry.

Events

January

• January 9–15 – Southern Sudan holds referendum on independence. The Sudanese electorate votes in favor of independence paving the way for the creation of the new state in July.
• January 11 – Flooding and mudslides in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro kill more than 800.
• January 14 – Arab Spring: The Tunisian government falls after a month of increasingly violent protests; President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali flees to Saudi Arabia after 23 years in power.
• January 24 – At least 37 people are killed and more than 180 others wounded in a bombing at Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia.

February

• February 11 – Arab Spring: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigns after widespread protests calling for his departure, leaving control of Egypt in the hands of the military until a general election can be held.
• February 22 - March 14 – The uncertainty of continued Libyan oil output causes crude oil prices to rise 20% over a two week period following the Arab Spring; causing the 2011 energy crisis.

On 22nd February at 12:51 pm, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck the north Canterbury Region. Christchurch, being the only city in the region, was severely damaged, for New Zealand standards. (Compared to global disasters, the earthquake wasn't significant, but compared to other earthquakes within New Zealand, it was the second most devastating earthquake ever. As from March 2011, it had a death toll of 181 civilians, with over 20 missing.

March

• March 11 – A 8.9-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit the east of Japan, killing over 15,000 and leaving another 8,000 missing. Tsunami warnings are issued in 50 countries and territories. Emergencies are declared at four nuclear power plants affected by the quake.
• March 15 – Arab Spring: King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa declares a three-month state of emergency with troops from the Gulf Co-operation Council are sent to quell the civil unrest.
• March 17 – Arab Spring and Libyan civil war: The United Nations Security Council votes 10-0 to create a no-fly zone over Libya in response to allegations of government aggression against civilians.
• March 19 – Arab Spring and Libyan civil war: In light of continuing attacks on Libyan rebels by forces in support of leader Muammar Gaddafi, military intervention authorized under UNSCR 1973 begins as French fighter jets make reconnaissance flights over Libya.

April

• April 11 – Former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo is arrested in his home in Abidjan by supporters of elected President Alassane Ouattara with support from French forces thereby ending the 2010–2011 Ivorian crisis and civil war.
• April 29 – An estimated two billion people watch the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey in London.

May

• May 1 – U.S. President Barack Obama announces that Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of the militant group Al-Qaeda, has been killed during an American military operation in Pakistan.
• May 21 – Volcanic ash from an eruption beneath Grímsvötn, an ice cap in Iceland, begins to disrupt air traffic across northern and western Europe, similar to the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in 2010.
• May 26 – Former Bosnian Serb Army commander Ratko Mladić, wanted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, is arrested in Serbia.

June

• June 5 – Arab Spring: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh travels to Saudi Arabia for treatment of an injury sustained during an attack on the presidential palace. Protesters celebrate his transfer of power to his Vice-President Abd al-Rab Mansur al-Hadi.

Predicted and scheduled events

July

• July 9 – The Republic of South Sudan is scheduled to secede from Sudan.

Date unknown

• Blue Waters, a petascale supercomputer being designed and built as a joint effort between the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and IBM is expected to be completed in this year.
• A new definition of the kilogram, based on universal constants, is likely to be announced at the 24th General Conference on Weights and Measures.

Deaths

Main article: Deaths in 2011

Further information: Category:2011 deaths

January

Gerry Rafferty

• January 2
  • Anne Francis, American actress (b. 1930)
  • Pete Postlethwaite, British actor (b. 1946)
  • Richard Winters, American paratrooper (b. 1918)
• January 4
  • Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi of Iran (b. 1966)
  • Gerry Rafferty, Scottish musician (b. 1947)
• January 15
  • Nat Lofthouse, English footballer (b. 1925)
  • Susannah York, British actress (b. 1939)
• January 18 – Sargent Shriver, American politician and diplomat (b. 1915)
• January 21 – Dennis Oppenheim, American artist (b. 1938)
• January 24 – Bernd Eichinger, German film producer and director (b. 1949)
• January 29 – Milton Babbitt, American composer (b. 1916)
• January 30 – John Barry, British film score composer (b. 1933)

February

Jane Russell

• February 3 – Maria Schneider, French actress (b. 1952)
• February 5 – Brian Jacques, English author (b. 1939)
• February 6
  • Josefa Iloilo, 3rd President of Fiji (b. 1920)
  • Gary Moore, Irish musician (b. 1952)
• February 8 – Cesare Rubini, Italian basketball player and coach (b. 1923)
• February 14 – George Shearing, Anglo-American jazz pianist (b. 1919)
• February 27 – Necmettin Erbakan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1926)
• February 28 – Jane Russell, American actress (b. 1921)

March

Elizabeth Taylor

• March 4
  • Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, 30th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1924)
  • Simon van der Meer, Dutch physicist (b. 1925)
• March 5 – Alberto Granado, Cuban writer and scientist (b. 1922)
• March 6 – Ján Popluhár, Slovak footballer (b. 1935)
• March 15 – Nate Dogg, American rapper (b. 1969)
• March 17 – Michael Gough, British actor (b. 1916)
• March 18 – Warren Christopher, American diplomat (b. 1925)
• March 21 – Nikolai Andrianov, Soviet-Russian gymnast (b. 1952)
• March 23 – Elizabeth Taylor, British-American actress (b. 1932)
• March 26
  • Paul Baran, American internet pioneer (b. 1926)
  • Geraldine Ferraro, American politician (b. 1935)
  • Diana Wynne Jones, British writer (b. 1934)
• March 27 – Farley Granger, American actor (b. 1925)
• March 29 – José Alencar, Brazilian politician (b. 1931)

April

William Lipscomb

• April 5
  • Baruch Samuel Blumberg, American physician (b. 1925)
  • Ange-Félix Patassé, 5th President of the Central African Republic (b. 1937)
• April 9 – Sidney Lumet, American film director (b. 1924)
• April 14 – William Lipscomb, American chemist (b. 1919)
• April 19 – Grete Waitz, Norwegian athlete (b. 1953)
• April 24 – Sathya Sai Baba, Indian spiritual leader (b. 1926)
• April 30 – Ernesto Sabato, Argentine writer (b. 1911)

May

Osama bin Laden

• May 2 – Osama bin Laden, Saudi-born terrorist (b. 1957)
• May 3 – Jackie Cooper, American actor (b. 1922)
• May 7
  • Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer (b. 1957)
  • Willard Boyle, Canadian physicist (b. 1924)
• May 9 – Lidia Gueiler Tejada, 67th President of Bolivia (b. 1921)
• May 16 – Samuel Wanjiru, Kenyan athlete (b. 1986)
• May 19 – Garret FitzGerald, 7th Taoiseach of Ireland (b. 1926)
• May 20 – Randy Savage, American professional wrestler (b. 1952)
• May 27
  • Jeff Conaway, American actor (b. 1950)
  • Gil Scott-Heron, American poet and rap musician (b. 1949)
• May 29
  • Sergei Bagapsh, Georgian-born politician (b. 1949)
  • Ferenc Mádl, 2nd President of Hungary (b. 1931)
• May 30 – Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, American physicist (b. 1921)
• May 31 – Pauline Betz, American tennis player (b. 1919)

June

Jack Kevorkian

• June 3
  • James Arness, American actor (b. 1923)
  • Jack Kevorkian, American physician (b. 1928)
• June 4 – Lawrence Eagleburger, American diplomat (b. 1930)

Major religious holidays

• January 7 (6 in Armenia) – Orthodox Christmas
• February 1 – Imbolc, a Cross-quarter day
• March 8 – Shrove Tuesday / Mardi Gras, end of Mardi Gras / Carnival season
• March 9 – Ash Wednesday (first day of Lent)
• March 20 – Holi
• March 21 – (Northern hemisphere) Vernal equinox, also known as Ostara & Persian New Year
• April 18 – Passover begins at sundown
• April 24 – Easter (Western and Orthodox)
• May 1 – Beltane, a Cross-quarter day
• June 7 – Shavuot begins
• August 1
  • Ramadan begins (Islam)
  • Lammas, a Cross-quarter day
• August 31 – Eid al-Fitr
• September 23 – (Northern hemisphere) Autumnal equinox, also known as Mabon
• September 28 – Rosh Hashana begins at sundown
• October 7 – Yom Kippur begins at sundown
• October 26 – Diwali, a religious holiday in Hinduism
• November 6 – Eid al-Adha
• November 26 – Islamic New Year
• December 20 – Hanukkah
• December 25 – Christmas

In fiction

Main article: Works of fiction set in 2011