May 21 - Radiation accident in Los Alamos laboratory; Dr Louis Slotin saves his coworkers but receives a fatal dose of radiation. Incident is initially classified
February 4 – RCA demonstrates all-electronic color television system.
February 18 - The first Washington-New York telecast through AT&T coaxial cable is termed success by engineers and viewers.
April 22 - CBS color television program is successfully transmitted over a 450-mile coaxial cable link from New York to Washington
May 9 - The first variety show premieres, Hour Glass, on NBC.
June 7 - The BBC begins broadcasting again and reshows the Mickey Mouse cartoon, that had been interrupted seven years earlier at the start of the World War II.
June 19 - The first televised heavyweight title fight between Joe Louis and Billy Conn is broadcast from Yankee Stadium. The fight was seen by 141,000 people, the largest television audience to see a fight.