September 22 is:
Autumnal equinox
The word equinox comes from the Latin words for “equal night.” The fall and spring equinoxes are the only days of the year in which the Sun crosses the celestial equator.
Business Women’s Day
National Ice Cream Cone Day
- The African elephant is the largest land mammal on Earth.
- African elephant ears are the shape of Africa. It’s one of the ways you can tell them apart from the Asian elephant. Also, the African elephant lives longer than the Asian elephant and is heavier.
- A female elephant’s pregnancy is the longest of any mammal; full-term is 22 months. Elephants can also live to the age of 70.
- Elephants can reach speeds of up to 35 miles per hour.
- People assume that elephants are noisy, but they sometimes make sounds we can’t hear. The pitch of their calls can be below the range of human hearing. Low sounds from the trunk are a growl, snort or roar, and high sounds are trump, bark and cry.
- Their trunks have 40,000 muscles and tendons, and it takes about a year for them to learn how to use it. Adam Stone, director of elephant husbandry at the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, says that “with a baby elephant, you will see that its trunk looks like a worm on the end of a hook, even when they’re nursing. They’ll trip over it; it’s really complex.”
The last people hanged for witchcraft in Massachusetts colony. In 1692, several accused “witches” confessed and named still others, and the trials soon began to overwhelm the local justice system. In May 1692, the newly appointed governor of Massachusetts, William Phips, ordered the establishment of a special Court of Oyer (to hear) and Terminer (to decide) on witchcraft cases for Suffolk, Essex and Middlesex counties. Presided over by judges including Hathorne, Samuel Sewall and William Stoughton, the court handed down its first conviction, against Bridget Bishop, on June 2; she was hanged eight days later on what would become known as Gallows Hill in Salem Town. Five more people were hanged that July; five in August and eight more in September. In addition, seven other accused witches died in jail, while the elderly (80-year-old) Giles Corey (Martha’s husband) was pressed to death by stones after he refused to enter a plea at his arraignment
The office of United States Postmaster General was established in 1789.
Birthday of Michael Faraday (September 22, 1791), English scientist who discovered the generation of electricity by means of magnetism.
The first issue of National Geographic Magazine was published in 1888.
Sara Jane Moore tried to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford, but was foiled by Oliver Sipple, a Marine, in 1975. Sipple grabbed Moore’s arm and then pulled her to the ground. She was given a life sentence for the attempted assassination and was released from prison on December 31, 2007, after serving 32 years. She was re-arrested in 2019 for parole violation.
The F-14 Tomcat retired from the United States Navy on September 22, 2006. As of 2014, the F-14 was in service with only the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, having been exported to Iran in 1976, when the U.S. had amicable diplomatic relations with Iran.