" 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 – Dilip Sardesai, Indian cricketer ( d. 2007 )

By the end of 1940 all of the Indian cavalry had been mechanised, receiving light tanks, armoured cars or 15cwt trucks.

* 1940 – World War II: Operation Compass – British and Indian troops under the command of Major-General Richard O ' Connor attack Italian forces near Sidi Barrani in Egypt.

Some efficient designs for estimating several main effects simultaneously were found by Raj Chandra Bose and K. Kishen in 1940 at the Indian Statistical Institute, but remained little known until the Plackett-Burman designs were published in Biometrika in 1946.

* 1940 – Yesudas, Indian playback singer and classical musician

In October 1940, Gandhi and Nehru, abandoning their original stand of supporting Britain, decided to launch a limited civil disobedience campaign in which leading advocates of Indian independence were selected to participate one by one.

* 1940 – Ramesh Chandra Lahoti, Indian jurist

In 1940, the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos created a secular cantata titled Mandu çarará, based on an Indian legend collected by Barbosa Rodrigues.

In a series of reports Raeder submitted to Hitler starting in June 1940, he called for Germany to permanently occupy France and to annex Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, and all of the British, French and Belgian colonies in sub-Saharan Africa plus South Africa in order that Germany would become the dominant naval power in both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

Through essentially a rehash of the " Mediterranean plan " of 1940 with the main German blows to be focused against the British in the Middle East, the " Great Plan " of 1942 was worked out in considerably more detail, and called for a series of mutually supporting attacks between Germany in the Middle East and Japan in the Indian subcontinent that were intended to knock Britain out of the war.

A scene in New York involved the backdrop of the in her commercial colors but by 1940, had actually been repainted grey, for refit completion to serve as a troopship already serving the Royal Navy, mainly in the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

* Arundhati Ghose ( born 1940 ), Indian diplomat

The film, released in 1940, was about the French and Indian War of 1755-63 in eastern North America.

Established in District 12 of the old Indian Territory, its post office existed from June 27, 1888, until July 16, 1940.

* Laxmikant-Pyarelal ( 1940 – 1998 ), Indian music director duo

During the retreat to Dunkirk in May 1940, John Ashdown ignored an order to abandon the Indian troops under his command, instead leading them to the port and on to one of the last ships to leave, without losing a single man.

In 1940, Indian sold nearly as many motorcycles as its major rival, Harley-Davidson.

In 1940, all models were fitted with the large skirted fenders that became an Indian trademark, and the Chief gained a new sprung frame that was superior to rival Harley's unsprung rear end.

On December 8, 1940 British, and Indian troops under the command of Major-General O ' Connor attacked against the Italian rear, via a gap in the defenses south of Sidi Barrani.

In 1934, he was one of the founder leaders of Congress Socialist Party, a socialist wing within the Indian National Congress and was elected as its All India Joint Secretary from 1934 to 1940.

HAL was established as Hindustan Aircraft in Bangalore in 1940 by Walchand Hirachand to produce military aircraft for the Royal Indian Air Force.

The series began in 1940 with The Adventures of Red Ryder, played by Don " Red " Barry, who got his nickname " Red " from the role and Tommy Cook as Red Ryder's young Indian sidekick Little Beaver.

* 1940, 31 July: Udham Singh, an Indian independence activist, at Pentonville Prison.

* Max Euwe vs Paul Keres, Amsterdam 1940 ( match ), Queen's Indian, Old Main line ( E19 ), 0 – 1 Black reveals a series of brilliant tactical surprise moves, concluding elegantly against the former world champion.