1939
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'''1939''' '''(MCMXXXIX)''' was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar).
Events
January-March
January 2 - End of term for Frank Merriam | Frank Finley Merriam, 28th List of Governors of California | Governor of California. He is succeeded by Culbert Levy Olson.
January 13 - Black Friday (1939)|Black Friday: 71 people die across Victoria, Australia|Victoria in one of Australia's worst ever bushfires.
January 24 - Earthquake kills 30.000 in Chile – about 50.000 sq mi razed
January 26 - Spanish Civil War: Troops loyal to Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.
February 2 - Hungary joins Anticomintern Pact
February 10 - Falangists take Catalonia
February 27 - United Kingdom and France recognize Francisco Franco|Franco's government
February 27 - Borley Rectory burns
February 27 - Sit-down Strike action|strikes are outlawed by the Supreme Court of the United States.
March 2 - Pope Pius XII|Pius XII becomes Pope
March 3 - In Bombay, Mohandas Gandhi begins to fast in protest of the autocratic rule in India.
March 14 - Slovakia|Slovak provincial assemble proclaims independence - priest Jozef Tiso becomes the president of independent Slovak government
March 15 - Germany|German troops occupy the remaining part of Bohemia and Moravia; Czechoslovakia ceases to exist; beginning hostilities leading to World War II|WWII
March 16 - Marriage of Princess Fawzia of Egypt to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran
March 22 - Germany takes Memel from Lithuania
March 28 - Dictator Francisco Franco conquers Madrid, ending the Spanish Civil War
March 28 - The last message from an adventurer Richard Halliburton - he disappears later
March - End of the Great Uprising|Great Arab Revolt in the British mandate of Palestine (started 1936)
April-June
April 4 - Faisal II of Iraq|Faisal II becomes King of Iraq.
April 7 - Italy invades Albania - Zog of Albania|King Zog flees
April 11 - Hungary leaves the League of Nations
May 2 - Lou Gehrig's streak of 2130 consecutive Major League Baseball games played comes to an end. The record will stand for 56 years before Cal Ripken, Jr. breaks it.
May 7 - Spain leaves the League of Nations
May 22 - Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
June 4 - Holocaust: The SS St. Louis|SS ''St. Louis'', a ship carrying a cargo of 963 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida after already having been turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, most of its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps.
June 17 - Last ''public'' execution in France - murderer Eugene Weidmann is decapitated by the guillotine.
June 23 - Turkey annexes Hatay
July-August
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July 4 - The concentration camp Neuengamme becomes autonomous.
July 6 - Holocaust: The last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany are closed.
August 2 - Albert Einstein writes President Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin Roosevelt about developing the Atomic Bomb using Uranium. This led to the creation of the Manhattan Project.
August 23 - Hitler and Stalin divide eastern Europe between themselves. Finland, the Baltic states and eastern Poland to the Soviet Union|USSR. Western Poland to Germany (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact)
August 25 - An Irish Republican Army (1922-1969)|IRA bomb explodes in the centre of Coventry, England killing five people.
August 27 - A Heinkel 178, the first jet-powered aircraft, flies for the last time.
August 30 - Poland begins mobilization
September-October
September 1 - World War II: Polish September Campaign - Nazi Germany attacks Poland, beginning the war
September 2 - Following the invasion of Poland, Freie Stadt Danzig Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed to Nazi Germany.
September 3 - World War II: France, Australia and the United Kingdom declare war on Germany.
September 5 - World War II: The United States declares its neutrality in the war.
September 6 - World War II: South Africa declares war on Germany.
September 10 - Canada declares war on Germany.
September 16 - Cease Fire ending undeclared Battle_of_Halhin_Gol|Border War between Soviet Union|The Soviet Union (and Mongolia|Mongolian allies) and Japan.
September 17 - Soviet Union invades Poland and then occupies eastern Polish territories.
September 27 - Warsaw surrenders to Germany; Modlin surrenders day later; last Polish large operational unit surrenders near Kock eight days later.
October 8 - World War II: Germany annexes Western Poland.
October 11 - Manhattan Project: US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt is presented with a letter signed by Albert Einstein urging the United States to rapidly develop the atomic bomb.
October 15 - The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed La Guardia Airport) is dedicated.
November-December
November 4 - World War II: US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality_Acts#Neutrality_Act_of_1939|Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons by belligerents.
November 6 - World War II: Sonderaktion Krakau
November 6 - The Hedda Hopper Show debuts with Hollywood gossip Hedda Hopper as host (the show ran until 1951 and made Hopper a powerful figure in the Hollywood elite).
November 8 - Venlo Incident: Two British agents of Secret Intelligence Service|SIS are captured by the Germans.
November 8 - In Munich, Adolf Hitler narrowly escapes an assassination attempt while celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.
November 15 - In Washington, DC, US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial.
November 16 - Al Capone released from Alcatraz
November 30 - Winter War begins: Soviet Union|Soviet forces invade Finland and reach the Mannerheim Line, starting the war.
December 2 - La Guardia Airport opens for business in New York City.
December 14 - League of Nations expels the USSR because of attacking Finland
December 25 - ''A Christmas Carol'' was read before a radio audience for the first time.
December 27 - Earthquake in Eastern Anatolia, Turkey, destroys the town of Erzingan - about 100.000 dead
December 26 - Mining strike in Boringae, Belgium
December 30 - USSR invades Finland
unknown dates
Batman created by Bob Kane (and, unofficially, Bill Finger).
Nuclear fission discovered independently by Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn
Kirlian photography invented by Semyon Kirlian
Siam changes its name to Thailand
A logging crew sets off a second forest fire in the Tillamook Burn, which destroys 190,000 acres (769 km²)
Ongoing events
Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
Sino-Japanese_War_(1937-1945)|Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)
Births
January
January 2 - Jim Bakker, American televangelist
January 2 - John McBon, Argentianian Tv Star Ed the Repairman
January 3 - Bobby Hull, Canadian hockey player
January 6 - Valeri Lobanovsky, Ukrainian footballer and manager (d. 2002)
January 10 - Sal Mineo, American actor (d. 1976)
January 10 - Bill Toomey, American athlete
January 11 - Ann Heggtveit, Canadian skier
January 17 - Maury Povich, American talk show host
January 18 - James Gritz, U.S. Presidential candidate
January 19 - Phil Everly, American musician
January 20 - Chandra Wickramasinghe, British Astonomer, Scientist, Poet.
January 21 - Wolfman Jack, American disk jockey and actor (d. 1995)
January 22 - Ray Stevens, American musician
January 29 - Germaine Greer, Australian writer
February-March
February 6 - Mike Farrell, American actor
February 10 - Adrienne Clarkson, 26th Governor General of Canada
February 10 - Roberta Flack, American singer
February 10 - Peter Purves, British actor and television presenter
February 12 - Ray Manzarek, American keyboardist
February 13 - Beate Klarsfeld, Romanian Nazi hunter
February 21 - Gert Neuhaus, German artist
February 28 - Daniel C. Tsui, Chinese-born physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize laureate
February 28 - Tommy Tune, American dancer, choreographer, and actor
March 8 - Robert Tear, Welsh tenor
March 13 - Neil Sedaka, American singer
March 20 - Brian Mulroney, eighteenth Prime Minister of Canada
March 26 - James Caan, American actor
March 31 - Zviad Gamsakhurdia, President of Georgia (d. 1993)
March 31 - Volker Schlöndorff, German film director
April-May
April 2 - Marvin Gaye, American singer (d. 1984)
April 4 - Hugh Masakela, South African musician
April 7 - Francis Ford Coppola, American film director
April 7 - Sir David Frost (broadcaster)|David Frost, English television personality
April 13 - Seamus Heaney, Irish writer, Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize laureate
April 13 - Paul Sorvino, American actor
April 16 - Dusty Springfield, English singer (d. 1999)
April 22 - Jason Miller (actor)|Jason Miller, American actor (d. 2001)
May 1 - Judy Collins, American singer and songwriter
May 7 - Sidney Altman, Canadian-born chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate
May 7 - Ruud Lubbers, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
May 7 - Jimmy Ruffin, American singer
May 7 - Marco St. John, American actor
May 9 - Ralph Boston, American athlete
May 12 - Ron Ziegler, Richard Nixon's White House Press Secretary (d. 2003)
May 13 - Harvey Keitel, American actor
May 19 - Livio Berruti, Italian athlete
May 19 - Dick Scobee, astronaut (d. 1986)
May 21 - Heinz Holliger, Swiss oboist and composer
May 23 - Reinhard Hauff, German film director
May 25 - Ian McKellen, English actor
May 29 - Al Unser, American race car driver
May 30 - Michael J. Pollard, American actor
June-August
June 3 - Ian Hunter, English singer (Mott the Hoople)
June 6 - Louis Andriessen, Dutch composer
June 9 - Ileana Cotrubas, Romanian soprano
June 9 - Dick Vitale, American basketball broadcaster
June 11 - Jackie Stewart, Scottish race car driver
July 5 - Booker Edgerson, American football player
July 14 - George E. Slusser, American scholar and writer
July 21 - John Negroponte, U.S. Director of National Intelligence
July 26 - John Howard, twenty-fifth Prime Minister of Australia
July 26 - Bob Lilly, American football player
August 5 - Princess Irene of the Netherlands
August 17 - Luther Allison, American musician (d. 1997)
August 22 - Carl Yastrzemski, baseball player
August 29 - Joel Schumacher, American film producer and director
August 30 - John Peel, English disk jockey (d. 2004)
September-December
September 6 - Brigid Berlin, American actor and artist
September 8 - Carsten Keller, German field hockey player
September 8 - Susumu Tonegawa, Japanese moleular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
September 9 - Ron McDole, American football player
September 16 - Breyten Breytenbach, South African writer and painter
September 23 - Janusz Gajos, Polish actor
September 30 - Len Cariou, Canadian actor and singer
September 30 - Jean-Marie Lehn, French chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate
October 1 - George Archer, American golfer (d. 2005)
October 7 - John Hopcroft, American computer scientist
October 7 - Harold Kroto, English chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate
October 7 - Bill Snyder, American football coach
October 14 - Ralph Lauren, American fashion designer
October 24 - F. Murray Abraham, American actor
October 27 - John Cleese, British actor
October 30 - Leland H. Hartwell, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
October 31 - Ron Rifkin, American actor
November 1 - Barbara Bosson, American actress
November 21 - Mulayam Singh Yadav, Indian politician
November 23 - Bill Bissett, Canadian poet
November 27 - Laurent-Désiré Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (d. 2001)
December 2 - Yael Dayan, Israeli writer and politician
December 8 - James Galway, Irish flutist
December 18 - Robert T. Bennett, American politican
December 18 - Michael Moorcock, English writer
December 18 - Harold E. Varmus, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Deaths
January 2 - Roman Dmowski, Polish politician (b. 1864)
January 23 - Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer (b. 1903)
January 24 - Maximilian Bircher-Benner, Swiss physician and nutritionist (b. 1867)
January 28 - William Butler Yeats, Irish writer, Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
February 10 - Pope Pius XI (b. 1857)
February 11 - Franz Schmidt, Austrian composer (b. 1874)
February 12 - S. P. L. Sørensen, Danish chemist (b. 1868)
February 22 - Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (b. 1875)
March 2 - Howard Carter, British archaeologist (b. 1874)
March 19 - Lloyd L. Gaines, American civil rights activist
April 7 - Joseph Lyons, tenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1879)
June 4 - Tommy Ladnier, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1900)
June 19 - Grace Abbott, American social worker and activist (b. 1878)
June 26 - Ford Maddox Ford, English writer (b. 1873)
July 14 - Alfons Mucha, Czech painter and decorative artist (b. 1860)
August 2 - Harvey Spencer Lewis, American mystic (b. 1883)
August 11 - Jean Bugatti, German automobile designer (b. 1909)
September 18 - Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz|Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Polish writer and painter (b. 1885)
September 23 - Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist (b. 1856)
October 7 - Harvey Cushing, American neurosurgeon (b. 1869)
November 12 - Norman Bethune, Canadian humanitarian (b. 1890)
November 28 - James Naismith, Canadian inventor of basketball (b. 1861)
December 22 - Ma Rainey, American singer (b. 1886)
December 23 - Anthony Fokker, Dutch aircraft manufacturer (b. 1890)
Nobel Prizes
Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics - Ernest Orlando Lawrence
Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry - Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt, Leopold Ruzicka
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Physiology or Medicine - Gerhard Domagk
Nobel Prize in Literature|Literature - Frans Eemil Sillanpaa|Frans Eemil Sillanpää
Nobel Peace Prize|Peace - not awarded
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