1940s

The 1940s was the decade that started on January 1, 1940, and ended on December 31, 1949.
Events
1940 - Retreat at Dunkirk
1941; Attack on Pearl Harbor, which followed by U.S. join the war then.
1944 - Normandy invasion
1945 (August 6 and 9) - first use of the atomic bomb in warfare.
1945 - World War II ends
1945 - Start of the Cold War
1945-1946 - Nuremberg Trials
1946 - baby boom begins in the United States.
1947 - Independence for India and other colonies.
1947-1949 - Indo-Pakistani War
1948-1949 - Arab-Israeli War
1949 - Communists take power in China.
People
Actor
Cary Grant, British-American actor
Charles Boyer, French actor
Dana Andrews, American actor
Fred Astaire, American actor
Fred MacMurray, American actor
Gene Reynolds, American actor
Humphrey Bogart, American actor
James Stewart, American actor
Kirk Douglas, American actor
Lionel Barrymore, American actor
Melvyn Douglas, American actor
Robert Taylor, American actor
Spencer Tracy, American actor
Toshiro Mifune, Japanese actor
William Holden, American actor
Actress
Audrey Hepburn, British-Belgian actress
Ava Gardner, American actress
Barbara Stanwyck, American actress
Bibi Ferreira, Brazilian actress
Deborah Kerr, British actress
Donna Reed, American actress
Doris Day, American actress
Fay McKenzie, American actress
Gene Tierney, American actress
Ginger Rogers, American actress
Gloria Swanson, American actress
Grace Kelly, American actress
Greta Garbo, Swedish-American actress
Ingrid Bergman, Swedish actress
Janet Leigh, American actress
Judy Garland, American actress
Katharine Hepburn, American actress
Lana Turner, American actress
Lauren Bacall, American actress
Machiko Kyo, Japanese actress
Mai Zetterling, Swedish actress
Marilyn Monroe, American actress
Mary Pickford, Canadian-American actress
Muriel Pavlow, British actress
Olivia de Havilland, American actress
Peggy Stewart, American actress
Composer
Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer
Director
Footballer
Adolfo Pedernera Argentine footballer
Alfredo Di Stefano, Argentine-Spanish footballer
Ferenc Puskas, Hungarian footballer
Stanley Matthews, English footballer
Musician
Scientist
Albert Einstein, German-born American scientist
Enrico Fermi, Italian-American physicist
Erwin Schrodinger, Austrian physicist
Niels Bohr, Danish physicist
Paul Dirac, English theoretical physicist
World Leaders
Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Communist Party of China
Jose Figueres Ferrer, President of Costa Rica (until 1948)
Adolf Hitler, Fuhrer of Germany
Karl Donitz, 4th President of Germany
Wilhelm Pieck, Leadership of East Germany
Otto Grotewohl, Leadership of East Germany
Theodor Heuss, President of Germany
Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of Germany
Mahatma Gandhi, leader of India
Hirohito, Emperor of Japan
Pope Pius XII, Pope in the 1930s
Ananda Mahidol, King of Siam (until 1946)
Rhee Syng-man, President of South Korea
Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand
Pridi Banomyong, Prime Minister of Thailand
George VI, King of the United Kingdom
Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of United Kingdom
Clement Attlee, Prime Minister of United Kingdom
Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States (until 1945)
Harry S. Truman, President of the United States
Joseph Stalin, leader of the USSR