1940 (AD 1940) Historical Timeline & Archive

Notable Figures in 1940 (AD 1940) (24)

• Al Pacino (Born: 1940-04-25) — Intense American actor celebrated for his powerful stage and screen performances.
• Alan Kay (Born: 1940-05-17) — Pioneer of GUI, Object-Oriented Programming, and modern computing paradigms.
• Andrzej Żuławski (Born: 1940-11-22) — Pioneering Polish film director, celebrated for intense art-house cinema.
• Bobby Russell (Born: 1940-04-19) — American singer-songwriter known for his career spanning the 1960s and 1970s.
• Bruce Lee (Born: 1940-11-27) — Pioneering martial artist and actor who founded Jeet Kune Do.
• Carlos Slim (Born: 1940-01-28) — Mexican business oligarch and philanthropist, founder of Grupo Carso.
• Cliff Richard (Born: 1940-10-14) — Enduring British star, Cliff Richard, known for rock and roll hits and longevity in music.
• Emma Goldman (Died: 1940-05-14) — Pivotal anarchist revolutionary, writer, and activist for social and women's rights.
• F. Scott Fitzgerald (Died: 1940-12-21) — Master chronicler of the Jazz Age, capturing American excess and lost dreams.
• J. J. Thomson (Died: 1940-08-30) — Pioneering physicist who discovered the electron and developed mass spectrometry.
• Jack Nicklaus (Born: 1940-01-21) — American professional golfer, nicknamed "the Golden Bear", considered one of the greatest of all time.
• Kevin Phillips (political commentator) (Born: 1940) — Influential American political commentator known for his critique of the Republican Party.
• Kip Thorne (Born: 1940-06-01) — Pioneering astrophysicist known for gravitational wave theory and wormhole research.
• Leon Trotsky (Died: 1940-08-21) — Key Marxist revolutionary, theorist, and founder of the Soviet state.
• Martin Sheen (Born: 1940-08-03) — Versatile American actor known for roles in The West Wing and Badlands.
• Michael Gambon (Born: 1940-10-19) — Esteemed Irish-English actor known for Shakespeare and his iconic role as Albus Dumbledore.
• Mohammad-Reza Shajarian (Born: 1940-09-23) — Master of Persian music, celebrated for preserving traditional Iranian vocal arts.
• Nancy Pelosi (Born: 1940) — Influential Democratic leader, served as Speaker of the U.S. House (2007-2011, 2019-2023).
• Paul Klee (Died: 1940-06-29) — Swiss-German painter whose work blended music, philosophy, and abstract form.
• Pelé (Born: 1940-10-23) — Brazilian football legend, 'The King,' celebrated for his unparalleled success on the pitch.
• Richard Pryor (Born: 1940-12-01) — Pioneering comedian known for raw storytelling and social commentary.
• Selma Lagerlöf (Died: 1940-03-16) — Pioneering Swedish author, first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• Udham Singh (Died: 1940-07-31) — Indian revolutionary famous for assassinating Michael O'Dwyer in revenge for Jallianwala Bagh.
• Wilma Rudolph (Born: 1940-06-23) — Olympic champion sprinter who overcame polio to become a global icon in track and field.