This article is about the year 2012. For the movie, 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 2012 by topic: News by month Jan – Feb – Mar – Apr – May – Jun Jul – Aug – Sep – Oct – Nov – Dec Arts Architecture – Art – Comics – Film – Home video – Literature (Poetry) – Music (Country, Metal, UK) – Radio – Television Politics Elections – Int'l leaders – Politics – State leaders – Sovereign states Science and technology Archaeology – Aviation – Birding/Ornithology – Meteorology – Palaeontology – Rail transport – Science – Spaceflight Sports Sport – Athletics (Track and Field) – Australian Football League – Baseball – Football (soccer) – Cricket – Ice Hockey – Motorsport – Tennis – Rugby league By place Algeria – Argentina – Australia – Brazil – Canada – People's Republic of China – Denmark – El Salvador – Egypt – European Union – France – Germany – India – Iraq – Iran – Ireland – Israel – Italy – Japan – Kenya – Lithuania – Luxembourg – Malaysia – Mexico – New Zealand – Norway – Pakistan – Palestinian territories – Philippines – Singapore – South Africa – South Korea – Spain – Sri Lanka – United Arab Emirates – United Kingdom – United States – Zimbabwe Other topics Awards – Games – Law – Religious leaders – Video gaming Birth and death categories Births – Deaths Establishments and disestablishments categories Establishments – Disestablishments Works and introductions categories Works – Introductions v · d · e v · d · e 2012 in other calendars Gregorian calendar 2012 MMXII Ab urbe condita 2765 Armenian calendar 1461 ԹՎ ՌՆԿԱ Bahá'í calendar 168 – 169 Bengali calendar 1419 Berber calendar 2962 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  - Bikram Samwat 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 Thai solar calendar 2555 Unix time 1325376000 – 1356998399 v · d · e

2012 (MMXII) will be a leap year starting on Sunday in the Gregorian calendar. It will be the 2012th year of the Common Era or Anno Domini designation, the 12th year of the 3rd millennium and of the 21st century; and the 3rd of the 2010s decade. It has been designated Alan Turing Year, commemorating the mathematician, computer pioneer, and code-breaker on the centennial of Turing's birth.1 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 interpretations of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar. Contemporary scientists have disputed the apocalyptic versions.2 Predicted and scheduled events January January 13–January 22 – The first Winter Youth Olympics will be held in Innsbruck, Austria. January 31 – 433 Eros, the second-largest Near Earth Object on record (size 13×13×33 km) will pass Earth at 0.1790 astronomical units (26,778,019 km; 16,639,090 mi). NASA studied Eros with the NEAR Shoemaker probe launched on February 17, 1996.3 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 & New Zealand (as well as the 60th anniversary of her becoming Head of the Commonwealth). April April 17 – The United States will cede wartime control of the military of the Republic of Korea after 50 years and dissolve the Combined Forces Command. Two distinct military commands (South Korea and the United States) will operate in Korea during wartime, rather than one unified command under the Combined Forces Command.citation needed May May 12 – August 12 – The 2012 World Expo is to be held in Yeosu, South Korea. May 20 – Annular solar eclipse. Path of annularity runs through the Pacific Ocean from northern China to California. June June 6 – The second and last solar transit of Venus of the century. The next pair is predicted to occur in 2117 and 2125. June 8 – Opening ceremony of the UEFA Euro 2012 June 18–June 23 – Turing Centenary Conference at the University of Cambridge, in honor of the mathematician, computer scientist, and cryptographer Alan Turing, the last day of the conference being the hundredth anniversary of his birth.4 July July 1 – Final match of the UEFA Euro 2012 July 27 – Opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics begins in London at 19:30 UTC, 20:30 BST.5 August August 12 – Closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. August 29 – Opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Paralympics begins in London.5 September September 9 – Closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. November November 13 – Total solar eclipse (visible in northern Australia and the South Pacific). December December 21 – The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, notably used by the pre-Columbian Maya 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. December 31 – The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends. Unknown dates 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).6 Sequoia, a proposed super computer built by IBM for the National Nuclear Security Administration will be completed, reaching a peak performance of 20 Petaflops.7 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 2000–2002.8 During the solar maximum the sun's magnetic poles will reverse.9 The Kars–Tbilisi–Baku railway across the Caucasus is scheduled to be completed sometime in 2012. 10 Major religious holidays January 6 – Christmas Day (Celebrated by the Armenian Churchdisambiguation needed) January 7 – Christmas Day by Julian Calendar (Celebrated by some Eastern Orthodox Christians) February 1 – Imbolc, a Cross-quarter day (Celebrated on February 2 in some places) February 5 – Mawlid an Nabi – Islam February 22 – Ash Wednesday - Western Christianity March 8 – Purim – Judaism March 8 – Holi – Hinduism March 20 – Spring Equinox, Persian New Year (Nouruz), also known as Ostara April 1 – Ramanavami – Hinduism April 6 – Hanuman Jayanti – Hinduism April 7 – Passover – Judaism April 8 – Easter – Western Christianity April 15 – Easter – Eastern Christianity May 1 – Beltane, a Cross-quarter day May 27 – Shavuot – Judaism June 17 – Lailat al Miraj – Islam 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 – Fall 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 – Hinduism November 15 – Islamic New Year December 9 – Hanukkah – Judaism December 21 – Winter solstice, also known as Yule December 25 – Christmas – Western Christianity See also 2012 phenomenon 2012 in fiction Notes ^ "TurningCentenary.eu". Turingcentenary.eu. 2010-04-09. http://www.turingcentenary.eu. Retrieved 2010-06-02.  ^ "2012: Beginning of the End or Why the World Won't End?". NASA. ^ "Near Earth Object Fact Sheet". Nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/neofact.html. Retrieved 2010-06-02.  ^ "Swan.ac.uk". Cs.swan.ac.uk. 2009-07-24. http://cs.swan.ac.uk/cie12. Retrieved 2010-06-02.  ^ a b "London 2012". London 2012. http://www.london2012.com/. Retrieved 2010-08-09.  ^ "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 (10 January 2008). "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. 15 February 2001. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast15feb_1.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-06.  ^ National Geographic, August 2010, page 62. References Finley, Michael (2002). "The Correlation Question". The Real Maya Prophecies: Astronomy in the Inscriptions and Codices. Maya Astronomy. Archived from the original on 2007-05-30. http://web.archive.org/web/20070530014051/http://members.shaw.ca/mjfinley/corr.html. Retrieved 2007-06-04.  Houston, Stephen D. (1989). Reading the Past: Maya Glyphs. London: British Museum Publications. ISBN 0-7141-8069-6. OCLC 18814390.  Houston, Stephen D.; Oswaldo Fernando Chinchilla Mazariegos, and David Stuart (eds.) (2001). The Decipherment of Ancient Maya Writing. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-3204-3. OCLC 44133070.  Miller, Mary; and Karl Taube (1993). The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05068-6. OCLC 27667317.  Schele, Linda; and David Freidel (1990). A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya. New York: William Morrow. ISBN 0-688-07456-1. OCLC 21295769.  Voss, Alexander (2006). "Astronomy and Mathematics". In Nikolai Grube (ed.). Maya: Divine Kings of the Rain Forest. Eva Eggebrecht and Matthias Seidel (assistant eds.). Cologne: Könemann. pp. 130–143. ISBN 3-8331-1957-8. OCLC 71165439.  Wagner, Elizabeth (2006). "Maya Creation Myths and Cosmography". In Nikolai Grube (ed.). Maya: Divine Kings of the Rain Forest. Eva Eggebrecht and Matthias Seidel (Assistant eds.). Cologne: Könemann. pp. 280–293. ISBN 3-8331-1957-8. OCLC 71165439.