List of Famous people who born in 1940

Marina Karella is a Greek artist and the wife of Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark.

Martin Heisenberg is a German neurobiologist and geneticist. Before his retirement in 2008, he held the professorial chair for genetics and neurobiology at the Bio Centre of the University of Würzburg. Since then, he continues his research with a senior professorship at the Rudolf Virchow Center of the University of Würzburg. Heisenberg studied chemistry and molecular biology in Munich, Tübingen and Pasadena. In 1975 he became Professor of genetics and neurobiology at the University of Würzburg. Heisenberg's work has focused on the neurogenetics of Drosophila, with the aim of investigating the genetic foundations of the Drosophila brain by studying the effect of genetic mutations on brain function. In addition, Heisenberg contributed a number of essays on the topics of science in society, perception, as well as the question of the freedom of the will. He was elected as a member of the Leopoldina in 1989.

Lone Dybkjær was a Danish politician. She served three non-consecutive terms as a member of the Folketing.

Hugo Stiglitz López, better known simply as Hugo Stiglitz, is a Mexican actor.

Michel Brunet is a French paleontologist and a professor at the Collège de France. In 2001 Brunet announced the discovery in Central Africa of the skull and jaw remains of a late Miocene hominid nicknamed Toumaï. These remains may predate the earliest previously known hominid remains, Lucy, by over three million years; however, this conclusion is the subject of a significant controversy.

Mohammed Yousef el-Magariaf or, as he writes on his official website, Dr. Mohamed Yusuf Al Magariaf, is a Libyan politician who served as the President of the General National Congress from its first meeting in August 2012 until his resignation in May 2013. In this role he was effectively Libya's de facto head of state, until his resignation in May 2013.

John Roundell Palmer, 4th Earl of Selborne,, was a British peer, ecological expert, and businessman. He was one of the hereditary peers elected to remain in the House of Lords after the enactment of the House of Lords Act 1999, sitting as a Conservative. He re-designated as non-affiliated in September 2019 and retired from the House on 26 March 2020.

María de la Cruz Nájera Botello is a Mexican actress. She is the wife of Alejandro Bichir, and the mother of Odiseo, Demián and Bruno Bichir.