January: Mahatma Gandhi leader of Indian nationalism & non-violent civil disobedience is assassinated by Nathuram Godse.

February: Miranda the smallest & innermost of Uranus's 5 major moons discovered by Gerard Kuiper at McDonald Observatory.

March: Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is founded in the Fontana/San Bernardino area in the U.S. other clubs also form.

April: Ralph Alpher & George Gamow publish their paper 'The Origin of Chemical Elements' known today as 'The Big Bang Theory'.

May: David Ben-Gurion declares the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel.

June: Columbia Records introduces its long playing 33 1/3 rpm record format. It will soon be adopted as the new industry standard.

July: The 1948 Olympics open in London. The first after a 12 year break due to World War II. The last being the 1936 Games in Berlin.

August: Alger Hiss denies accusations by Whittaker Chambers that he is a Soviet spy. He will maintain his innocence until his death.

September: Kim Il-sung formally declares the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. He will rule the country until his death in 1994.

October: T.S. Eliot, one of the most important English language poets of the 20th century, is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

November: The Takahe, a flightless bird thought to be extinct, is rediscovered by Geoffrey B. Orbell near Lake Te Anau, New Zealand.

December: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly at the Palais de Chaillot, Paris.