New York City in World War II
The atlas holds 30 people and 40 moments here, from 1939 to 1945. The most recorded lives are Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Isaac Asimov and Frida Kahlo.
Notable people
Alfred Hitchcock
in 1942
1 moment here
English filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980), known as the “Master of Suspense,” worked in British cinema before relocating to Hollywood in 1939.…
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
from 1940 to 1941
3 moments here
French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900–1944) pioneered airmail flying in Europe, Africa, and South America, wrote works including…
Charles de Gaulle
in 1945
1 moment here
French army officer, leader of Free France during the Second World War, head of France's Provisional Government, and president of the French Fifth…
Chien-Shiung Wu
in 1944
1 moment here
Chinese-American experimental physicist whose career moved from Jiangsu and eastern China to California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York,…
Enrico Fermi
in 1939
2 moments here
Italian and naturalized-American physicist whose documented movements trace a path from Rome and Pisa through European study in Göttingen and Leiden,…
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
in 1944
1 moment here
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was an American lawyer and Democratic politician who served as New York state senator, assistant secretary of the Navy,…
Frank Lloyd Wright
in 1940
1 moment here
American architect, designer, writer, and educator whose career spanned more than seven decades.…
Frida Kahlo
from 1939 to 1945
2 moments here
Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón) was born in Coyoacán and spent much of her life in Mexico City.…
Hideki Yukawa
in 1939
1 moment here
Japanese theoretical physicist and the first Japanese Nobel laureate, awarded the 1949 Nobel Prize in Physics for predicting mesons.…
Isaac Asimov
from 1939 to 1941
3 moments here
American writer and biochemist best known for science fiction, popular-science writing, and the Foundation and Robot series.…
José Raúl Capablanca
in 1942
2 moments here
Cuban chess player and diplomat, world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. This chronology records documented physical presence at places of birth,…
Judy Garland
in 1939
1 moment here
American actress, singer, and vaudevillian, born Frances Ethel Gumm. Garland rose from childhood vaudeville and MGM musical films to become a major…
Katharine Hepburn
in 1939
1 moment here
American stage, film, and television actress whose career ran from 1928 to 1995. Hepburn was born in Hartford, Connecticut, educated at Bryn Mawr…
Kwame Nkrumah
in 1944
1 moment here
Ghanaian nationalist leader, Pan-Africanist, and political theorist who led the Gold Coast to independence as Ghana in 1957.…
Lars Onsager
in 1942
1 moment here
Norwegian-American physical chemist and theoretical physicist whose career took him from Norway and Switzerland to major American universities.…
Louis Armstrong
in 1943
1 moment here
American jazz trumpeter, vocalist, bandleader, and entertainer whose career transformed jazz solo performance and made him an international cultural…
Marlene Dietrich
in 1944
1 moment here
German-American actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (Marie Magdalene Dietrich) was born in Berlin and achieved international fame through stage,…
Marlon Brando
from 1943 to 1944
2 moments here
American actor and activist whose stage and screen career ranged from Broadway in the 1940s to major films through the early 2000s.…
Max Theiler
in 1945
1 moment here
South African-American virologist and physician whose work at Harvard, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Yale contributed to the development of the 17D…
Nikola Tesla
in 1943
1 moment here
Serbian-American engineer and inventor best known for foundational work on alternating-current power systems, the induction motor, high-frequency…
Octavio Paz
in 1945
1 moment here
Mexican poet, essayist, editor, and diplomat whose international postings and teaching appointments connected Mexico City, the United States, Europe,…
Olivia de Havilland
in 1939
1 moment here
Olivia de Havilland was a British-American-French actress whose career ranged from California community theatre and Warner Bros.…
Pablo Neruda
in 1943
1 moment here
Chilean poet, diplomat, senator, Communist political figure, and 1971 Nobel laureate. Born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto, he lived and…
P. L. Travers
in 1940
1 moment here
Pamela Lyndon Travers, born Helen Lyndon Goff, was an Australian-British writer, actress, journalist, and creator of the Mary Poppins books.…
Moments
- 1939 Emigration arrival in New York Enrico Fermi
- 1939 First U.S. fission experiment Enrico Fermi
- 1939 Return voyage to New York Frida Kahlo
- 1939 Disembarkation in New York Hideki Yukawa
- 1939 Bachelor's degree at Columbia Isaac Asimov
- 1939 The Philadelphia Story opens on Broadway Katharine Hepburn
- 1939 Attendance at the first World Science Fiction Convention Isaac Asimov
- 1939 The Wizard of Oz New York premiere Judy Garland
- 1939 Philadelphia Orchestra concerts in New York Sergei Rachmaninoff
- 1939 New York premiere of Gone with the Wind Olivia de Havilland
- 1940 Wartime residence in New York P. L. Travers
- 1940 MoMA retrospective installation Frank Lloyd Wright
- 1940 Arrival in New York Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- 1941 Central Park South residence Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- 1941 National Book Award luncheon Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- 1941 Master's degree at Columbia Isaac Asimov
- 1941 William Howard Taft High School student Stanley Kubrick
- 1942 Saboteur location-scouting tour Alfred Hitchcock
- 1942 Wartime submarine-detection research Walter Brattain
- 1942 Ising-model announcement in New York Lars Onsager
- 1942 Collapse at Manhattan Chess Club José Raúl Capablanca
- 1942 Death at Mount Sinai Hospital José Raúl Capablanca
- 1942 Marriage to Arline Greenbaum Richard Feynman
- 1943 Permanent settlement in Corona Louis Armstrong
- 1943 Acting study in New York Marlon Brando
- 1943 Death at Hotel New Yorker Nikola Tesla
- 1943 Cultural event in New York Pablo Neruda
- 1943 Naturalization ceremony Sergei Rachmaninoff
- 1943 Madison Square Garden address Soong Mei-ling
- 1944 Pan-African conference in New York Kwame Nkrumah
- 1944 With Jean Gabin in New York Marlene Dietrich
- 1944 Broadway debut Marlon Brando
- 1944 War Loan duty in New York Ronald Reagan
- 1944 Manhattan Project work at Columbia Chien-Shiung Wu
- 1944 Campaigns through New York City in the rain Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- 1945 Rockefeller Foundation service in New York Max Theiler
- 1945 Mexican diplomatic posting in New York City Octavio Paz
- 1945 Evening student at City College Stanley Kubrick
- 1945 Spinal operation in New York Frida Kahlo
- 1945 New York City visit Charles de Gaulle