This Year in History:
2012
Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.
On January 11, 2012, Joran van der Sloot, a longtime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of American teen Natalee Holloway in Aruba, pleads guilty to the murder of 21‑year‑old Stephany…
On February 5, 2012, 36‑year‑old Josh Powell, who had been in the public eye since police labeled him a person of interest in the 2009 disappearance of his 28‑year‑old wife,…
Whitney Houston, one of the world’s top‑selling singers from the mid‑1980s to late 1990s, is found dead in the bathtub of her suite at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly…
On February 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin, an African American teen walking home from a trip to a convenience store, is fatally shot by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer patrolling…
On this day in 2012, broadcast journalist Mike Wallace, a full‑time correspondent for the pioneering TV newsmagazine “60 Minutes” from its debut in 1968 until 2006, dies at age 93…
On April 18, 2012, Dick Clark, the TV personality and producer best known for hosting “American Bandstand,” an influential music‑and‑dance show that aired nationally from 1957 to 1989 and helped…
On April 26, 2012, former Liberian president Charles Taylor is found guilty of abetting horrific war crimes, including rape and mutilation in Sierra Leone. His conviction was the first for…
On this day in 2012, singer and songwriter Donna Summer, who rose to fame during the 1970s with such disco anthems as “Love to Love You Baby” and “Hot Stuff,”…
Facebook, the world’s largest social network, holds its initial public offering (IPO) and raises $16 billion. It was the largest technology IPO in American history to that date, and the…
On this day in 2012, former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak is found guilty of failing to stop the killings of hundreds of anti‑government demonstrators during the 2011 popular uprising that…
On this day in 2012, one of the preeminent science fiction authors of the 20th century, Ray Bradbury, whose books include The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451 and Something Wicked This Way…
On June 15, 2012, 33‑year‑old aerialist Nik Wallenda becomes the first person to walk across high wire stretched over Niagara Falls, which lie on the border between New York state…
On this day in 2012, Academy Award‑nominated filmmaker Nora Ephron, whose credits include “Silkwood,” “When Harry Met Sally,” and “You’ve Got Mail,” dies at age 71 of complications from leukemia…
On this day in 2012, Andy Griffith, famous for his role as the good‑hearted, small‑town sheriff of fictional Mayberry, North Carolina, on the iconic 1960s TV sitcom “The Andy Griffith…
On July 20, 2012, a mass shooting occurs at a movie theater in Aurora, a Denver suburb, killing 12 people—the youngest a 6‑year‑old girl—and injuring at least 70 others. The…
On August 4, 2012 in London, Oscar Pistorius of South Africa becomes the first amputee to compete at the Olympics by running in an opening heat of the men’s 400‑meter.…
On August 24, 2012, the man who killed 77 people in a July 22, 2011, bombing and shooting attack in Norway is sentenced to 21 years in prison, the maximum…
On this day in 2012, in a case that generated national headlines, former Illinois police officer Drew Peterson is found guilty in the 2004 murder of his third wife, Kathleen…
Sixteen members of a dissident Amish group in Ohio are convicted of federal hate crimes and conspiracy for forcibly cutting the beards and hair of fellow Amish with whom they…
On this day in 2012, Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner jumps from a capsule attached to a helium balloon approximately 24 miles above Earth and becomes the first person to break…
