The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives, highlighting the contribution of cooperatives to socio-economic development, in particular recognizing their impact on poverty reduction, employment generation and social integration.[1] It has also been designated as the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All. [2]
It has also been designated Alan Turing Year, commemorating the mathematician, computer pioneer, and code-breaker on the centennial of Turing's birth.[3]
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.[4]
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 (26,780,000 km; 16,640,000 mi). NASA studied Eros with the NEAR Shoemaker probe launched on February 17, 1996.[5]
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, and the 60th anniversary of her becoming Head of the Commonwealth.
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 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.[6]
July
- July 27 – Opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics begins in London at 19:30 UTC, 20:30 BST.[7] London will become the first city in history to host the Summer Olympic Games three times.
August
- August 6 – August 20 – Mars Science Laboratory also known as the Curiosity rover is scheduled to land on Mars.[8]
- 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 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.
Date unknown
- China will launch the Kuafu spacecraft.
- 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will be the next major Congress of the Communist Party of China.
- 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).[9]
- Sequoia, a proposed super computer built by IBM for the National Nuclear Security Administration will be completed, reaching a peak performance of 20 Petaflops.[10]
- 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.[11] During the solar maximum the Sun's magnetic poles will reverse.[12]
- The Kars–Tbilisi–Baku railway across the Caucasus is scheduled to be completed sometime in 2012.[13]
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 22 – Ash Wednesday – Western Christianity
- March 8
- March 20 – Spring Equinox, Persian New Year (Nouruz), also known as Ostara
- April 1 – Ramanavami – Hinduism
- April 6
- April 7 – Passover – Judaism
- April 8 – Easter – Western Christianity
- April 15 – Easter – Eastern Christianity
- April 28 – Vesākha – Buddhism
- May 1 – Beltane, a Cross-quarter day
- May 27 – Shavuot – Judaism
- 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
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