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 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 Video gaming 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 Ghana India Iraq Iran Ireland Israel Italy Japan Kenya Lithuania Luxembourg Malaysia Mexico New Zealand Norway Pakistan Palestinian territories Philippines Russia 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 2012 in other calendars Gregorian calendar 2012 MMXII Ab urbe condita 2765 Armenian calendar 1461 Bah' 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 (4648/4708-12-8) to (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 (24) Korean calendar 4345 Thai solar calendar 2555 Unix time 1325376000 1356998399 v d e Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 2012

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 km  13 km  33 km) will pass Earth at 0.1790 astronomical units (26780000 km; 16640000 mi). NASA studied Eros with the NEAR Shoemaker probe launched on February 17 1996.3 April April 17 The United States will cede wartime control of the military of South 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. 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 144000 days each) since the mythical creation date of the calendar's current era. December 31 The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends. 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).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 20002002.8 During the solar maximum the Sun's magnetic poles will reverse.9 The KarsTbilisiBaku railway across the Caucasus is scheduled to be completed sometime in 2012.10 Major religious holidays January 6 Christmas Day (Celebrated by the Armenian Church) 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 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 In fiction Main article: Works of fiction set in 2012 See also 2012 phenomenon References "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.  "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.jhtmlarticleID213000842&subSectionNews. Retrieved 2010-06-02.  Phillips Tony (10 January 2008). "Solar Cycle 24 Begins". Science@NASA. NASA. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/10jansolarcycle24.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-06.  "The Sun Does a Flip". Science@NASA. NASA. 15 February 2001. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast15feb1.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-06.  National Geographic August 2010 page 62. 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: Knemann. pp. 130143. 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: Knemann. pp. 280293. ISBN 3-8331-1957-8. OCLC 71165439.