1940 deaths

American politician (1865–1940)

Ukrainian academic

Prime Minister of Bulgaria (1863-1940)

French Army general in World War I (1863–1940)

English mathematician (1863–1940)

British engineer, architect and town planner (1863–1940)

German officer and fighter pilot in World War II

Polish chess player

American astronomer

Aurélien-Marie Lugné (27 December 1869 19 June 1940), known by his stage and pen name Lugné-Poe, was a French actor, theatre director, and scenic designer. He founded the landmark Paris theatre company, the Théâtre de l'Œuvre, which produced experimental work by French Symbolist writers and painters at the end of the nineteenth century. Like his contemporary, theatre pioneer André Antoine, he gave the French premieres of works by the leading Scandinavian playwrights Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg, and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson.

Polish novelist and translator (1873–1940)

Swedish artist (1869-1940)

French musician and instrument maker in England (1858-1940)

governor of Kentucky (1869-1940)

American science fiction writer who created Buck Rogers (1888–1940)

British orientalist (1858–1940)

Welsh actor in the early 20th century

Italian general (1880-1940)

Japanese general (1885–1940)

actress (1880–1940)

German physicist (1869–1940)

American poet (1854-1940)

French archaeologist (1858–1940)

actress (1897-1940)

American inventor and businessman (1854–1940)

Belgian road bicycle racer (1899–1940)

German artist (1868-1940)

Italian opera singer (1870–1940)

Canadian rower (1882–1940)

Croatian historian (1869–1940)

Czech fighter ace (1914-1940)

Russian painter (1869-1940)

Canadian actor (1876-1940)

Qing Dynasty scholar (1866-1940)

South African botanist (1860-1940)

Chinese socialite and spy

Polish general (1872-1940)

Norwegian speed skater (1908–1940)

Austrian automobile and aircraft designer (1872-1940)

British politician, diplomat and newspaper editor (1882-1940)

Russian composer

SS leader (1904-1940)

Indian filmmaker (1892–1940)

Japanese politician (1863-1940)

British tug of war competitor (1873–1940)

German sculptor (1871-1940)

British metallurgist (1858–1940)

(1862–1940 classical pianist, piano teacher

French philosopher (1870-1940)

British historian (1889–1940)

Belgian artist (1856-1940)

editor

French professor (1872–1940)

Belgian civil engineer (1852-1940)

American ornithologist (1842-1940)

German admiral, leader of the German National Youth League (1868-1940)

American botanist and landscape architect (1857-1940)

Great Purge perpetrator (1898-1940)

Austrian neurologist and pychiatrist (1886–1940)

American boxer (1877-1940)