List of Famous people who died in 2012

Frank Sherwood "Sherry" Rowland was an American Nobel laureate and a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Irvine. His research was on atmospheric chemistry and chemical kinetics. His best-known work was the discovery that chlorofluorocarbons contribute to ozone depletion.

Shreeram Shankar Abhyankar was an Indian American mathematician known for his contributions to algebraic geometry. He, at the time of his death, held the Marshall distinguished professor of mathematics chair at Purdue University, and was also a professor of computer science and industrial engineering. He is known for Abhyankar's conjecture of finite group theory.

Bernhard Schrader was a German professor of Theoretical and Physical Chemistry and teaching until his retirement in 1996 at the University of Essen, where he died. Schrader was an internationally acclaimed pioneer of experimental molecular spectroscopy in Germany, especially of Raman- and Infrared spectroscopy and its routine application in chemical analysis. Amongst his numerous achievements was his historic landmark paper with Bergmann of 1967 about the first successful use of Transmission Raman spectroscopy for chemical analysis of Organic solids, e.g. pharmaceutical powders, which has become routine industry practice since that approach was "rediscovered" in 2006.

Sergey Mikhailovich Nikolsky was a Russian mathematician. He was born in Talitsa, which was at that time located in Kamyshlovsky Uyezd, Perm Governorate, Russian Empire. He had been an Academician since November 28, 1972. He also had won many scientific awards. At the age of 92 he was still actively giving lectures in Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. In 2005, he was only giving talks at scientific conferences, but was still working in MIPT, at the age of 100. He died in Moscow in November 2012 at the age of 107.

Aleksandr Yudaevich Gorelik was a Soviet pair skater. He competed with Tatiana Zhuk. They are the 1965 World bronze medalists and the 1966 and 1968 World silver medalists. At the European Figure Skating Championships, they won the bronze medal in 1965 and the silver in 1966. They won the silver medal at the 1968 Winter Olympics.

James Nicholas Gray was an American computer scientist who received the Turing Award in 1998 "for seminal contributions to database and transaction processing research and technical leadership in system implementation".

William Standish Knowles was an American chemist. He was born in Taunton, Massachusetts. Knowles was one of the recipients of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He split half the prize with Ryōji Noyori for their work in asymmetric synthesis, specifically for his work in hydrogenation reactions. The other half was awarded to K. Barry Sharpless for his work in oxidation reactions.

José Bénazéraf was a French filmmaker and producer who specialised in erotic films.

Pierre Gérald was a French actor who acted professionally in theater, movies and television series for over 50 years.