Editing 1940 in science (section)

==Births==
* January 8
** [[Mark Bretscher]], English biologist and academic
** [[Brian Josephson]], Welsh-born theoretical physicist and winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]].
* April 1 – [[Wangari Maathai]], née Muta (died [[2011 in science|2011]]), [[Kenya]]n [[biologist]] and winner of the [[Nobel Peace Prize]].
* April 18 – [[Joseph L. Goldstein]], American [[biochemist]] and winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]].
* May 17 – [[Alan Kay]], American computer scientist and winner of the [[Turing Award]].
* June 1 – [[Kip Thorne]], American gravitational physicist and winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]].
* June 5 – [[Dickson Despommier]], American [[microbiologist]], [[ecologist]] and Professor of [[Public health]] in Environmental Health Sciences at [[Columbia University]].
* June 22 – [[Daniel Quillen]] (died 2011), American [[mathematician]].
* July 15 – [[Stephen Jacobsen]] (died [[2016 in science|2016]]), American [[bioengineer]] and [[roboticist]].
* July 30 – [[Clive Sinclair]] (died [[2021 in science|2021]]), English inventor.
* September 12 – [[Joachim Frank]], German-born [[biophysicist]] and winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]].
* September 26 – [[Louise Johnson]] (died [[2012 in science|2012]]), British [[biochemist]] and protein [[Crystallography|crystallographer]].
* November 20 – [[Arieh Warshel]], [[Israel]]i-born winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]].
* November 26 – [[Enrico Bombieri]], Italian-born mathematician.
* [[Judith Pipher]], American [[astrophysicist]].
* December 24 – [[Anthony Fauci]], American physician-scientist and immunologist.