" The term made an impact into English pulp science fiction starting from Jack Williamson's The Cometeers ( 1936 ) and the distinction between mechanical robots and fleshy androids was popularized by Edmond Hamilton's Captain Future ( 1940 – 1944 ).

* 1940 – Homero Aridjis, Mexican writer and diplomat

* 1940 – Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Mexican actor

* 1874 – William B. Bankhead, American politician ( d. 1940 )

* 1892 – Johnny Dodds, American jazz clarinetist and saxophonist ( d. 1940 )

* 1940 – John Hagee, American pastor and televangelist

* 1940 – Herbie Hancock, American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer

* 1857 – Eugen Bleuler, Swiss psychiatrist ( d. 1940 )

* 1940 – Burt Young, American actor

* 1874 – Carl Bosch, German chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate ( d. 1940 )

* 1940 – Sonny Sharrock, American guitarist ( Last Exit ) ( d. 1994 )

* 1940 – Estonia was illegally annexed by the Soviet Union.

* 1940 – Mukhu Aliyev, Russian politician

* 1940 – Louise Sorel, American actress

* 1857 – Manuel de Escandón, Mexican polo player ( d. 1940 )

* 1940 – Bill Musselman, American basketball coach ( d. 2000 )

* 1940 – Beko Ransome-Kuti, Nigerian doctor and activist ( d. 2006 )

* 1940 – Will Tura, Belgian singer-songwriter, musician, and composer

2 # 1 ( Jan., 1940 ), pp. 87 – 104 in JSTOR

* 1881 – Otto Toeplitz, German mathematician ( d. 1940 )

* 1940 – Mervyn Kitchen, English cricketer and umpire

* 1940 – Ram Loevy, Israeli screenwriter and director

* 1940 – World War II: Italian forces begin the invasion of British Somaliland.

* 1940 – Lance Alworth, American football player

* 1940 – Martin Sheen, American actor

* 1940 – Dennis Cole, American actor ( d. 2009 )

* NSU alumnus Dennis Freeman ( 1940 – 2007 ) served as mayor of nearby Logansport from 1984 until his death.

In 1940, the route was realigned through South Dennis to cross over the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines railroad tracks on a bridge.

Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville, the original Hawkman first appeared in Flash Comics # 1, published by All-American Publications in 1940.

Dennis Anthony Tito ( born August 8, 1940, in Queens, New York ) is an Italian American engineer and multimillionaire, most widely known as the first space tourist to fund his own trip into space.

In 1940 she married actor Dennis O ' Keefe ; they remained together until his death.

The idea of replacing the complicated Schmidt corrector plate with an easy to manufacture full aperture spherical meniscus lens ( a meniscus corrector shell ) to create a wide field telescope occurred to at least 4 optical designers in early 1940s war-torn Europe, including Albert Bouwers ( 1940 ), Dmitri Dmitrievich Maksutov ( 1941 ), K. Penning, and Dennis Gabor ( 1941 ).

* Dennis, Wayne ( 1940 a ).

* Dennis, Wayne ( 1940 b ).

Howard Dennis McNamara ( November 22, 1890 – September 24, 1940 ) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward.

Jo Stafford, one of the sisters, joined the Tommy Dorsey band in 1940 and persuaded Dorsey to hire Dennis as arranger and composer.

* Dennis Tito ( born 1940 ), United States businessman and cosmonaut

* 1940 – James Tyler, American guitarist, composer, and author ( d. 2010 )

* 1863 – Ernest Thayer, American poet ( d. 1940 )

* 1940 – Galen Hall, American football player and coach

* 1940 – Johnny Nash, American singer-songwriter and actor

* 1940 – Jill St. John, American actress

* 1875 – Walter Chrysler, American automobile pioneer ( d. 1940 )

* 1940 – William Cohen, American politician and author, 20th United States Secretary of Defense

* 1940 – Ken Jenkins, American actor

* 1940 – James Brady, American activist, 15th White House Press Secretary

* 1940 – Gary Gabelich, American race car driver ( d. 1984 )

* 1940 – Joseph L. Goldstein, American scientist, Nobel laureate

* 1940 – Lennie Pond, American race car driver

* 1940 – Genya Ravan, American singer ( Goldie & the Gingerbreads and Ten Wheel Drive )

* 1940 – Bobby Hatfield, American singer-songwriter ( The Righteous Brothers ) ( d. 2003 )