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Events on Tuesday 5 September 1939 3
1939 – 2026Claudette Colvin (1939-2026)Died 13 January 2026, aged 86American civil rights figure who at fifteen refused to give up her bus seat to a white woman in Montgomery, Alabama, nine months before Rosa Parks did the same.
1939 – 2026Susumu TonegawaJapanese Molecular BiologistJapanese molecular biologist who was awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering V(D)J recombination, the genetic mechanism by which the immune system generates millions of different antibodies from a limited set of genes. Born in Nagoya, he solved one of biology's oldest puzzles while working in Switzerland, then spent over 40 years at MIT, where he reinvented himself as a neuroscientist pioneering the use of optogenetics to identify and manipulate memory cells in the brain.
1939Susumu Tonegawa born in NagoyaBorn Susumu Tonegawa in Nagoya, Japan. His father was a textile engineer whose job moved the family frequently, so Susumu was sent to live with an uncle in Tokyo to attend the renowned Hibiya High School.