About the day » Thursday May 2, 1940Calender converter

• Hedwig Schulte († 2012)
• Johannes Heikoop, Woerden († 2010)
• Enno Boele Hefting († 1955)
• Guy Van Look, Kapellen, Provincie Antwerpen († 2012)
• Billy Opperman, Rhenen, Utrecht, Nederland († 2008)
• Ana Luisa de Medina, Sevilla, Espagne († 2012)
• Hendrik Van Gucht, Bornem († 2012)
• Fenna Plasman († 2003)
• Jean Braden Farquhar, 3 Regent Street Portobello Scotland († 2003)
• Anna Louise van Medina Markgravin van Navahermosa, Sevilla, Andalousië († 2012)

• Augustinus Franciscus COUNYE (Coenye) (62), Oostende
• Cornelia Anna de Bont- (72), Tilburg, Nederland
• Boukje Couprie (0), Den Haag
• Barta Rorije (41), Wezep (Oldebroek), Nederland
• Bernard Guillaume Hubert Jos. van Ommeren (75), Velsen, Noord-Holland, Nederland
• Carel Anthonius van Zeeland (70), Driebergen-Rijsenburg
• Albertus van Veldhuisen (77), Ede, Gelderland, Nl
• Adrianus Marinus Wolf (0), Oss, Nederland
• aloijsius joseph peter reinold van nunen (58), deurne
• Antonia Van Der Vegt (73), Olst

• 1938 » Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho († 1996)
• 1939 » Ernesto Castano, Italian football player
• 1939 » Sumio Iijima, Japanese physicist and engineer
• 1940 » Jules Albert Wijdenbosch, Surinamese politician
• 1941 » Bruce Cameron, Scottish bishop
• 1941 » Clay Carroll, American baseball player
• 1941 » Eddy Louiss, French jazz musician († 2015)
• 1941 » Tony Adamowicz, American race car driver († 2016)
• 1942 » Jacques Rogge, Belgian businessman
• 1942 » Wojciech Pszoniak, Polish film and theater actor

• 1925 » Antun Branko Šimić, Croatian and Bosnian-Herzegovinian poet (b. 1898)
• 1925 » Johann Palisa, Austrian astronomer (b. 1848)
• 1927 » Ernest Starling, English physiologist and academic (b. 1866)
• 1929 » Charalambos Tseroulis, Greek general and politician, Greek Minister for Military Affairs (b. 1879)
• 1941 » Penelope Delta, Greek author (b. 1874)
• 1945 » Joe Corbett, American baseball player and journalist (b. 1875)
• 1945 » Martin Bormann, German politician (b. 1900)
• 1947 » Dorothea Binz, German SS officer (b. 1920)
• 1953 » Wallace Bryant, American archer (b. 1863)
• 1957 » Joseph McCarthy, American captain, lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1908)

1. Jan
2. Johannes
3. Cornelis
4. Hendrik
5. Willem
6. Gerrit
7. Pieter
8. Jacob
9. Adrianus
10. Robert
11. Petrus
12. Jacobus
13. Wilhelmus
14. Gerardus
15. Dirk
16. Arie

1. Maria
2. Johanna
3. Anna
4. Cornelia
5. Elisabeth
6. Wilhelmina
7. Hendrika
8. Adriana
9. Catharina
10. Petronella
11. Geertruida
12. Jacoba
13. Margaretha
14. Annie
15. Marie
16. Aaltje

• Koningin Wilhelmina (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from 1890 till 1948 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
• In The Netherlands , there was from August 10, 1939 to September 3, 1940 the cabinet De Geer II, with Jonkheer mr. D.J. de Geer (CHU) as prime minister.
• In The Netherlands , there was from September 3, 1940 to July 27, 1941 the cabinet Gerbrandy I, with Prof. dr. P.S. Gerbrandy (ARP) as prime minister.
• The Netherlands had about 8.8 million citizens.
• February 27 » Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14.
• March 16 » First person killed (James Isbister) in a German bombing raid on the UK in World War II during a raid on Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands.
• March 30 » Second Sino-Japanese War: Japan declares Nanking capital of a new Chinese puppet government, nominally controlled by Wang Jingwei.
• May 13 » Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands flees her country to Great Britain after the German invasion. Princess Juliana takes her children to Canada for their safety.
• June 10 » World War II: The Kingdom of Italy declares war on France and the United Kingdom.
• July 25 » General Henri Guisan orders the Swiss Army to resist German invasion and makes surrender illegal.

The temperature on May 2, 1940 was between 8.1 °C and 20.5 °C and averaged 14.0 °C. There was 11.2 hours of sunshine (75%). The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the east.