August 27, 1990 — Stevie Ray Vaughan dies

One of the all time guitar greats, Stevie Ray Vaughan began his career working with smaller bands, but grew to such popularity and renown that he was soon able to front his own band, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble.

On the night of August 26, 1990, Vaughan played at a concert in East Troy, Wisconsin. The event was a sellout, and Vaughan’s loyal fans were treated to an encore guitar jam featuring Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, Jimmie Vaughan and of course, Stevie himself.

But shortly thereafter, Vaughan was involved in a helicopter crash that claimed his life. He was only 35 years old, and his death inspired a large number of musical tributes. He would have liked that.

August 27, 1770 — Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel is born

Hegel was one of the most influential philosophers of his time. He built upon the work of Kant, Descartes, Hume and others – his work assumes a familiarity with the writings of many of his predecessors – and Hegel himself was an influence on any number of the philosophers who followed him, notably Karl Marx and Theodor Adorno.

Hegel lived to be 61 years old, and spent most of his adult life studying and writing in a total of eight different German universities. He wrote four books: Phenomenology of Spirit (1807); Science of Logic (published in three volumes: 1811, 1812 & 1816); Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences (1816) and Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1822).