by Larry Klaes, space enthusiast and science journalist A
slightly different version of this article appeared on The
Tompkins Weekly on May 10, 2010. Not since 2000 has an impending
year so intrigued and concerned the general public like 2012.
Many people have a vague idea that the world is heading towards
some kind of doom because of a calendar created by an ancient
and mysterious race. They see every new natural and artificial
disaster as one more bit of proof that everything will come to a
crashing end – on December 21, 2012 to be exact. What are the
real facts behind all the stories, hype, and concern about 2012?
Ithaca’s Science Cabaret devoted its last program of the spring
to this very year and topic. Titled “2012: Truths and Fictions”,
the subject was tackled from two key angles by Ann Martin, a
Ph.D astronomy candidate at Cornell and Wendy Bacon, an
anthropologist at the University of Pennsylvania. Bacon began
with a very brief background on the Maya, the Mesoamerican
culture which supposedly started