List of Famous people who born in 1940

Jacob Palis Jr. is a Brazilian mathematician and professor. Palis' research interests are mainly dynamical systems and differential equations. Some themes are global stability and hyperbolicity, bifurcations, attractors and chaotic systems.

Franz Joachim Wegner is emeritus professor for theoretical physics at the University of Heidelberg.

Joanna Jędryka,, is a Polish film and theatre actress. She is a graduate of the Acting Department at the National Film School in Łódź in 1965 and stars in 38 different works.

Petru Gherghel is a Romanian prelate of the Catholic Church. He is the ninth and current Bishop of Iaşi.

Stephen James Lippard is the Arthur Amos Noyes Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is considered one of the founders of bioinorganic chemistry, studying the interactions of nonliving substances such as metals with biological systems. He is also considered a founder of metalloneurochemistry, the study of metal ions and their effects in the brain and nervous system. He has done pioneering work in understanding protein structure and synthesis, the enzymatic functions of methane monooxygenase (MMO), and the mechanisms of cisplatin anticancer drugs. His work has applications for the treatment of cancer, for bioremediation of the environment, and for the development of synthetic methanol-based fuels.

Most Reverend Dr. Heinrich Mussinghoff was the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Aachen, Germany, from 11 February 1995 until the acceptance of his resignation on 8 December 2015.

Thomas Köhler is an East German former luger who competed during the 1960s.

Fabio Perini is an Italian entrepreneur and inventor, founder of Perini Navi shipyard (1983) and of the machinery company Fabio Perini S.p.A. (1966).

Irwin Cotler, PC, OC, OQ is a retired Canadian politician, Emeritus Professor of Law, and Founder and Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. He was the Member of Parliament for Mount Royal from 1999 to 2015. He served as the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada from 2003 until the Liberal government of Paul Martin lost power following the 2006 federal election. He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in a by-election in November 1999, winning 92% of votes cast.