Year retrospective · 2010s

2012

2012 (MMXII) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2012th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 12th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 3rd year of the 2010s decade.

Recorded events

10

top entries

Notable births

16

Notable deaths

30

Decade

2010s

Timeline

Defining events of 2012

  1. 2012 A pair of great earthquakes occur in the Wharton Basin west of Sumatra in Indonesia. The maximum Mercalli intensity of this strike-slip doublet earthquake is VII (Very strong). Ten are killed, twelve are injured, and a non-destructive tsunami is observed on the island of Nias.

    2012 earthquake near Aceh Province, Indonesia

    2 Mw undersea earthquakes that struck near the Indonesian province of Aceh on 11 April at 15:38 local time. Initially, authorities feared that the initial earthquake would cause a tsunami and warnings were issued across the Indian Ocean; however, these warnings were subsequently cancelled. These were unusually large intraplate earthquakes and the largest strike-slip earthquake ever recorded.

  2. 2012 The trial for Anders Behring Breivik, the perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, begins in Oslo, Norway.

    2012 trial of the Norwegian mass murderer

    The trial of Anders Behring Breivik, the perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, took place between 16 April and 22 June 2012 in Oslo District Court. Breivik was sentenced to 21 years of preventive detention on 24 August 2012. 170 media organisations were accredited to cover the proceedings, involving some 800 individual journalists.

  3. 2012 The Pulitzer Prize winners are announced. It was the first time since 1977 that no book won the Fiction Prize.

    Awards for journalism and related fields

    The 2012 Pulitzer Prizes were awarded on April 16, 2012, by the Pulitzer Prize Board for work during the 2011 calendar year. The deadline for submitting entries was January 25, 2012. For the first time, all entries for journalism were required to be submitted electronically.

  4. 2012 A mass shooting at Oikos University in California leaves seven people dead and three injured.

    Mass shooting in California, U.S.

    On April 2, 2012, a mass shooting occurred inside Oikos University, a Korean Christian college in Oakland, California, United States. Seven people were killed, and three others were injured. One L.

  5. 2012 UTair Flight 120 crashes after takeoff from Roshchino International Airport in Tyumen, Russia, killing 33 and injuring 10.

    2012 aviation accident in Russia

    UTair Flight 120 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Tyumen to Surgut, Russia. On 2 April 2012, the ATR-72 turboprop aircraft operating the flight crashed shortly after take-off from Roschino International Airport, killing 33 of the 43 people on board. Investigation carried out by the Russian Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) revealed that the aircraft had not been de-iced prior to its take-off, even though it had been parked for hours in snowy condition.

  6. 2012 One hundred twenty-seven people are killed when a plane crashes in a residential area near the Benazir Bhutto International Airport near Islamabad, Pakistan.

    2012 aviation accident in Rawalpindi, Pakistan

    Bhoja Air Flight 213 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight operated by Pakistani private airline Bhoja Air from Karachi to Islamabad. On 20 April 2012, the Boeing 737-236A aircraft serving the route crashed in bad weather during the final approach, killing all 121 passengers and 6 crew on board. It remains the second deadliest air disaster in Pakistan, after the 2010 crash of Airblue Flight 202.

  7. 2012 Two trains are involved in a head-on collision near Sloterdijk, Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, killing one person and injuring 116 others.
  8. 2012 At least four explosions hit the Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk with at least 27 people injured.
  9. 2012 An overloaded ferry capsizes on the Brahmaputra River in India killing at least 108 people. At least 150 more are missing and presumed dead.
  10. 2012 Azawad declares itself independent from the Republic of Mali.

Arrivals

Born in 2012

Artem Kotenko 2012– Ukrainian singer (born 2012)
Princess Athena of Denmark 2012– Member of the Danish royal family (born 2012)
Blue Ivy Carter 2012– American singer (born 2012)
Doug the Pug 2012– American celebrity dog (born 2012)
Artem Kotenko 2012– Ukrainian singer (born 2012)
Princess Athena of Denmark 2012– Member of the Danish royal family (born 2012)
Blue Ivy Carter 2012– American singer (born 2012)
Doug the Pug 2012– American celebrity dog (born 2012)
Artem Kotenko 2012– Ukrainian singer (born 2012)
Princess Athena of Denmark 2012– Member of the Danish royal family (born 2012)
Blue Ivy Carter 2012– American singer (born 2012)
Doug the Pug 2012– American celebrity dog (born 2012)

Farewells

Died in 2012

Lionel Bowen Australian politician (1922–2012)
Giorgio Chinaglia Italian footballer (1947–2012)
Miguel de la Madrid President of Mexico from 1982 to 1988
Raymond Aubrac Member of the French Resistance in World War II (1914–2012)
Barbara Buchholz German composer and theremin player
Lili Chookasian Opera singer
Luis Aponte Martínez Puerto Rican Catholic cardinal
Akin Omoboriowo Nigerian politician
Ahmed Ben Bella President of Algeria from 1963 to 1965
Roger Caron Canadian robber and writer (1938–2012)
Tippy Dye American athlete and coach (1915–2012)
Hal McKusick American jazz musician

On the charts

Culture of 2012

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Across the calendar of 2012

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