Explore 3061 historical events from 1940–1949.
General Sir Peter John Cosgrove is an Australian retired senior Army officer who served as the 26th governor-general of Australia, in office from 2014 to 2019.
Peter Cosgrove, Australian general and politician, 26th Governor General of Australia
Sally Anne Struthers is an American actress and activist. She is known for her portrayal of Gloria Stivic, the daughter of Archie and Edith Bunker on the sitcom All in the Family (…
Sally Struthers, American actress
Dick Harmon was a PGA golf professional and instructor.
Dick Harmon, American golfer and coach (died 2006)
William Atherton is an American actor. He had starring roles in The Sugarland Express (1974), The Day of the Locust (1975), The Hindenburg (1975) and Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977)…
William Atherton, American actor and producer
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi is a French virologist and Director of the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Division and Professor at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. Born in Paris, Barr…
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, French virologist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
Jonathan Max Mann was an American physician who was an administrator for the World Health Organization, and spearheaded early AIDS research in the 1980s.
Jonathan Mann, American physician and author (died 1998)
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, film producer, politician, and former professional bodybuilder who served as the 38th governor of Califo…
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, and politician, 38th Governor of California
Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss was a German SS officer and the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp. After the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of World War II, he lived u…
Rudolf Höss, German SS officer (born 1900)
Jozef Gašpar Tiso was a Slovak politician, dictator and Catholic priest who served as president of the First Slovak Republic, a client state of Nazi Germany during World War II, fr…
Jozef Tiso, Slovak priest and politician, President of Slovakia (born 1887)
Christian X was King of Denmark from 1912 until his death in 1947, and the only King of Iceland as Kristján X, holding the title as a result of the personal union between Denmark a…
Christian X of Denmark (born 1870)
Meir Feinstein was an Irgun member in Mandatory Palestine, during the Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine. Feinstein, who was sentenced to death by the British authorities, is…
Meir Feinstein (born 1929, disputed) with Moshe Barazani (born c
Willa Sibert Cather was an American writer known for her novels of life on the Great Plains, including O Pioneers!, The Song of the Lark, and My Ántonia. In 1923, she was awarded t…
Willa Cather, American novelist, short story writer, and poet (born 1873)
Irving Fisher was an American economist, statistician, inventor, eugenicist and progressive social campaigner. He was one of the earliest American neoclassical economists, though h…
Irving Fisher, American economist and statistician (born 1867)
Dorothea "Theodora" Binz was a Nazi German officer and supervisor at Ravensbrück concentration camp during the Holocaust. She was known as one of the most brutal, ruthless and sadi…
Dorothea Binz, German SS officer (born 1920)
Byron Joseph LaForest was a Canadian professional baseball player who appeared in 52 games in the major leagues, primarily as a third baseman, for the Boston Red Sox during the lat…
Ty LaForest, Canadian-American baseball player (born 1917)
Harry Gordon Selfridge, Sr. was an American retail magnate who founded the London-based department store Selfridges. The early years of his leadership led to his becoming one of th…
Harry Gordon Selfridge, American-English businessman, founded Selfridges (born 1858)
Sukanta Bhattacharya was a Bengali poet and revolutionary. He was known as "Young Nazrul" and "Kishore Bidrohi Kobi", for his rebellious stance and opposition against the British R…
Sukanta Bhattacharya, Indian poet and playwright (born 1926)
George William Forbes was a New Zealand politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of New Zealand from 28 May 1930 to 6 December 1935. He was the last leader of the remnant o…
George Forbes, New Zealand farmer and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (born 1869)
Harold Homer Chase, nicknamed "Prince Hal", was an American professional baseball first baseman and manager in Major League Baseball, widely viewed as the best fielder at his posit…
Hal Chase, American baseball player and manager (born 1883)
Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins was an English biochemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1929, with Christiaan Eijkman, for the discovery of vitamins. H…
Frederick Gowland Hopkins, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1861)
Kalle Juhonpoika Hakala was a Finnish newspaper editor, politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic P…
Kalle Hakala, Finnish politician (born 1880)
Zhang Lingfu was a high-ranking general of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army. He successfully fought against the Communists and the Imperial Japanese Army. In 1947, his unit …
Zhang Lingfu, Chinese general (born 1903)
Philipp Eduard Anton von Lenard was a Hungarian–German experimental physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1905 for his work on cathode rays. This work led to his exp…
Philipp Lenard, Slovak-German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1862)
Georgios Siantos was a Greek politician and prominent figure of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) who served as acting general secretary of the party, and as a leader of the Nati…
Georgios Siantos, Greek sergeant and politician (born 1890)