39: A Study

Thirty-nine is:
· In the title of the John Buchan novel and subsequent films (one by Alfred Hitchcock), The Thirty-Nine Steps

· The code for international direct-dialed phone calls to Italy

· I-39 is the designation for a US interstate highway from Normal, Illinois to Wausau, Wisconsin. I-39 is the 39th shortest of the primary "two digit" Interstates.

· The eternal age of comedian Jack Benny, and many other people as they grow older

· The traditional number of times citizens of Ancient Rome hit their slaves when beating them, referred to as "Forty save one"

· Japanese Internet chat slang for "thank you" when written with numbers

· "'39" is a track on Queen's album A Night At the Opera. If the tracks on Queen's original studio albums are numbered in sequential order starting with their first, "'39" does in fact fall in the thirty-ninth position

· "39" is a song by The Cure on their album "Bloodflowers"

· The duration, in nanoseconds, of the nuclear reaction in the largest nuclear explosion ever performed (Tsar bomb)

· The number of Scud missiles which Iraq fired at Israel during the Gulf War in 1991

· World War II broke out in Europe on September 1, 1939

· Pier 39 in San Francisco

· The retired jersey number of former baseball great Roy Campanella

· Uniform of former Pittsburgh Pirate Dave Parker

· Uniform of football's Larry Csonka of Miami Dolphins; Hugh McElhenny of the San Francisco 49ers; and Steven Jackson of the St. Louis Rams

· Super Bowl XXXIX, a Super Bowl in the 2004-2005 National Football League season between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles in Jacksonville, Florida.

At age 39:
· Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong became the 1st person to set foot on the moon
· Charles Goodyear led the way to the effective use of rubber
· Jimmy Connors reached the U.S. Open semifinals
· Joseph Smith Jr., Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr. were assassinated