As 2012 ends, so does a year full of monumental and historical events. With everything from the Presidential election to the Summer Olympics, 2012 was a year for the books.

Kicking the year off, Queen Elizabeth II marked her 60th anniversary of monarch ruling in the United Kingdom. Though she came to throne on February 6, 1952, her official coronation wasn’t until June 2, 1953 according to the official website of The British Monarchy. The weekend of Jun. 2-5, consisted of festivals and events celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

A much anticipated date of Mar. 23 marked the release of the popular film The Hunger Games. This movie was based off the popular, young adult novel by Suzanne Collins.

The film starred actress Jennifer Lawrence and grossed over $400 million dollars at the U.S. box offices according to Yahoo News, making it the most popular movie of 2012. Also in March, the lottery ticket American Mega Millions hit a record amount of $640 million dollars on Mar. 30. This is the highest any lottery ticket has been before.

On July 20, gunman James Eagan Holmes walked into a movie theater in Aurora, Colo. during the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises, and set off tear gas grenades into the crowd. He shot at the audience killing 12 people and injuring 58.

July 27 kicked off the start of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, UK. It was estimated that over 10,000 athletes took place in the games with 530 of them representing the United States. At these games, swimmer Michael Phelps attained his eighteenth gold medal, setting the record for the most gold medals ever to be won by an Olympian.
According to Gulf Business, London spent over $14.5 billion dollars on hosting the games, and an estimated 27 million viewers watched the opening ceremony. The games came to an end on August 12.

In Aug. 2012, Apple Company became the world’s largest firm with a stock market of over $623.52 billion dollars, according to Gulf Business. A month later, Apple released the much anticipated iPhone 5 and sold a record 5 million phones in the first three days of release. Apple’s founder and CEO Steve Jobs passed away this year on Oct. 5.

Also in August, NASA’s rover Curiosity successfully landed on Mars, after being launched nearly a year earlier in Nov. 2011. The mission for this rover was to provide NASA with enough proof and information as to whether or not Mars ever has been, is, or will be able to attain an environment suitable for microbial life according to Aarti Nagraj.

On Oct. 9, Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner took a leap of faith from a capsule 128,000 feet above the earth. Forty seconds after he jumped, Baumgartner became the first person to break the sound barrier while free-falling.

He was strapped with cameras, so an estimated eight million people watched Baumgartner take this jump live on YouTube, according to Gulf Business.

Towards the end of October, Hurricane Sandy took the East Coast and Caribbean by storm, literally. According to Livescience, the death toll from the Superstorm is estimated at over 150 people, including 67 deaths in the Caribbean and 54 in Haiti. It also managed to approach the upper East Coast over New York and New Jersey, causing mass power outages in major cities.

Friday Dec. 14, 20 children ages six and seven would not be returning home that day after school. Twenty-year-old Adam Lanza quickly became a household name after taking 26 innocent lives at the elementary school, including both students and staff, and taking his own life shortly after.

Anna Anderson is the News Editor for The Spartan Speaks.