* 1939 – 1945, the Second Battle of the Atlantic.

Subsequent formalizations were framed as attempts to define " effective calculability " or " effective method "; those formalizations included the Gödel – Herbrand – Kleene recursive functions of 1930, 1934 and 1935, Alonzo Church's lambda calculus of 1936, Emil Post's " Formulation 1 " of 1936, and Alan Turing's Turing machines of 1936 – 7 and 1939.

* 1890 – Anthony Fokker, Dutch aviation engineer ( d. 1939 )

* 1939 – André Ouellet, French-Canadian politician

* 1852 – Ferdinand von Lindemann, German mathematician ( d. 1939 )

* 1939 – Alan Ayckbourn, English writer

* 1939 – Johnny Raper, Australian rugby league footballer

* 1939 – The 1939-40 New York World's Fair opens.

* 1939 – NBC inaugurates its regularly scheduled television service in New York City, broadcasting President Franklin D. Roosevelt's N. Y. World's Fair opening day ceremonial address.

* 1939 – First flight of the turbojet-powered Heinkel He 178, the world's first jet aircraft.

* 1939 – William Least Heat-Moon, American author

* 1939 – Edward Patten, American singer-songwriter and producer ( Gladys Knight & the Pips ) ( d. 2005 )

* 1939 – Bulle Ogier, French actress

* 1939 – Romano Prodi, Italian politician and statesman

* 1939 – Hércules Brito Ruas, Brazilian footballer

* 1939 – Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear weapon.

* 1939 – Benjamin Barber, American theorist

* 1939 – Wes Craven, American director

* 1939 – John W. Snow, American politician, 73rd United States Secretary of the Treasury

* 1984 – Marvin Gaye, American singer ( The Moonglows ) ( b. 1939 )

* 2001 – Trinh Cong Son, Vietnamese composer ( b. 1939 )

Eastern European theorists include Pyotr Stolypin ( 1862 – 1911 ) and Alexander Chayanov ( 1888 – 1939 ) in Russia ; Adolph Wagner ( 1835 – 1917 ), and Karl Oldenberg in Germany, and Bolesław Limanowski ( 1835 – 1935 ) in Poland.

** Marvin Gaye, American singer ( b. 1939 )

Robert Marvin " Bobby " Hull, OC ( born January 3, 1939 ) is a former Canadian ice hockey player.

Their son, Marvin, Jr., was born two years after that, on April 2, 1939.

It first appeared in this version in Revival Choruses of Marvin V. Frey, a lyric sheet printed in Portland, Oregon in 1939.

On April 2, 1939, their first son, Marvin Pentz, Jr. was born.

The first was recorded for Bluebird Records ( RCA-Victor's budget label ) on August 22, 1939 by The Pine Ridge Boys ( Marvin Taylor and Doug Spivey ), who were from Atlanta.

* Marvin Gaye ( April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984 )

Symbolically, Marian Anderson ( a noted opera singer of her day ) sang a rendition of " America the Beautiful " on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 after being refused use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution because of her skin color.

* 2008 – Skip Caray, American sportscaster ( b. 1939 )

* 1939 – Anjanette Comer, American actress

* 1939 – Alexander Watson, American ambassador and diplomat

* 1939 – Phil Balsley, American singer-songwriter ( The Statler Brothers )

* 1939 – Billy Joe Shaver, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

* 1939 – Michael D. Antonovich, American politician

* 1939 – Skip Caray, American sportscaster ( d. 2008 )

* 1939 – George Hamilton, American actor

* 1939 – James Burton, American guitarist ( TCB Band )

* 1939 – Harold Reid, American singer-songwriter ( The Statler Brothers )

* 1939 – Clarence Williams III, American actor

* 1939 – John Badham, American director

* 1939 – Anthony Lake, American political figure

* 1939 – Marian Anderson sings at the Lincoln Memorial, after being denied the right to sing at the Daughters of the American Revolution's Constitution Hall.

* 1939 – Joel Schumacher, American director

* 1939 – Elizabeth Ashley, American actress

* 1939 – Thomas J. Moyer, American judge