May 9th, 1940

Born on May 9th, 1940

Age in days, weeks and months
Wow, over 31,000 days old!

Why not celebrate an alternative birthday? In 512 days, exactly on December 19th, 2027, people who were born on May 9th, 1940 will be 32,000 days old!

... in seconds, minutes and hours

What happened on May 9th?

May 9th, 1949

Rainier III became Prince of Monaco, beginning a 56-year reign, which would make him one of the longest ruling monarchs of the 20th century.

May 9th, 1915

World War I: British forces launched the Battle of Aubers, an offensive on the Western Front, as part of the larger Second Battle of Artois.

May 9th, 1761

The inaugural exhibition of the Society of Artists of Great Britain opened at Spring Gardens in London.

May 9th, 2012

The pilots of a Sukhoi Superjet, ignoring alerts from the terrain warning system, crashed the aircraft into Mount Salak in Indonesia, resulting in the deaths of all 45 people on board.

May 9th, 2005

Pope Benedict XVI began the beatification process for his predecessor Pope John Paul II, waiving the standard five years required after the nominee's death.

May 9th, 2001

Police at the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra, Ghana, fired tear gas to quell unrest at a football match, leading to a stampede that killed 126 people.

May 9th, 1992

An underground methane explosion occurred at the Westray Mine in Plymouth, Nova Scotia, killing all 26 Canadian coal miners who were working at the time.

May 9th, 1980

Part of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida collapsed after a pier was struck by MV Summit Venture, killing 35 people.

May 9th, 1979

Prominent Iranian Jew Habib Elghanian was executed after having been convicted by a revolutionary tribunal of various charges, triggering a mass exodus of Jews from Iran.

May 9th, 1977

The Hotel Polen in Amsterdam was destroyed by fire (pictured), leaving 33 people dead.

May 9th, 1964

Ngô Đình Cẩn, a younger brother and the confidant of South Vietnam's first president, Ngô Đình Diệm, was executed by Nguyễn Khánh's military junta.

May 9th, 1961

In a speech to U.S. broadcasters, Newton Minow, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, described commercial television programming as "a vast wasteland".

May 9th, 1960

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it would approve the use of Searle's Enovid, the first combined oral contraceptive pill.

May 9th, 1944

World War II: The Japanese Take Ichi convoy arrived at Halmahera in the Dutch East Indies after losing many ships and thousands of troops to Allied attacks while attempting to carry two divisions of troops from China to New Guinea.

May 9th, 1918

First World War: Germany repelled Britain's second attempt to blockade the Belgian port of Ostend.

Birthdays
... of famous people, actors, celebrities and stars on May 9th

Born on May 9th, 1940

86

Franco Bassanini

Italian lawyer and politician

*May 9th, 1940, Milan

86

Joachim Starbatty

German economist, MEP

*May 9th, 1940, Düsseldorf

86

Klaus Zehelein

Opera intendant

*May 9th, 1940, Frankfurt

Same year
Born in 1940

85

Onur Öymen

Turkish politician and diplomat

*October 18th, 1940, Kadıköy

40

John Lennon

British musician (1940–1980)

*October 9th, 1940, Liverpool †December 8th, 1980, New York City

83

Lorns Skjemstad

Norwegian cross-country skier

*March 10th, 1940, Inderøy Municipality †February 18th, 2024, Røros Municipality

82

Pelé

Brazilian footballer (1940–2022)

*October 23rd, 1940, Três Corações †December 29th, 2022, Morumbi

76

Al Jarreau

American singer and songwriter (1940–2017)

*March 12th, 1940, Milwaukee †February 12th, 2017, Los Angeles

86

Al Pacino

American actor (born 1940)

*April 25th, 1940, Manhattan

86

Klaus Schlappner

German association football player and manager

*May 22nd, 1940, Lampertheim

85

Annie Ernaux

French writer (born 1940)

*September 1st, 1940, Lillebonne

77

Michael Parks

American actor (1940–2017)

*April 24th, 1940, Corona †May 9th, 2017, Los Angeles

80

Wolfgang Clement

German politician

*July 7th, 1940, Bochum †September 27th, 2020, Bonn

86

Nancy Pelosi

American politician

*March 26th, 1940, Baltimore

32

Bruce Lee

Chinese-American martial artist and actor (1940–1973)

*November 27th, 1940, San Francisco Chinese Hospital †July 20th, 1973, Kowloon Tong

82

James Caan

American actor (1940–2022)

*March 26th, 1940, The Bronx †July 6th, 2022, Los Angeles

55

Joseph Brodsky

Russian-American poet (1940-1996)

*May 24th, 1940, Saint Petersburg †January 28th, 1996, Brooklyn

86

Ringo Starr

British musician, drummer for the Beatles

*July 7th, 1940, Liverpool

86

Nūrsūltan Nazarbaev

President of Kazakhstan from 1991 to 2019

*July 6th, 1940, Ushqonyr

79

Tilo Prückner

German actor and author (1940–2020)

*October 26th, 1940, Augsburg †July 2nd, 2020, Berlin

76

Manfred Jung

German singer and operatic tenor (1940–2017)

*July 9th, 1940, Oberhausen †April 14th, 2017, Essen

86

Patrick Stewart

British actor

*July 13th, 1940, Mirfield

79

Peter Fonda

American actor (1940–2019)

*February 23rd, 1940, New York City †August 16th, 2019, Los Angeles

Birthdays of famous people

Public holidays on May 9th

Fixed holidays (Christian feast day, Commemoration of the end of the German occupation of the Channel Islands related observances, Victory Day observances, celebration of the Soviet Union victory over Nazi Germany) which are celebrated on May 9th.

Date as a Roman numeral / digit

Born on May 9th, 1940
Future birthdays

Leap year

Yes: 1940 is a leap year, therefore has a 29th of February with an additional leap day and a total of 366 days (instead of the usual 365 days in a normal year).

Calendar
May 1940