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"Another reason why privacy could be just a passing fad, terrorism is going to get too good. [1997]"
- Larry Niven
 |
| Double-Pane Vacuum Window | ||
| Double-pane glass separated by vacuum. |
This is an early reference to this idea in science fiction. Although the double pane idea had been around since the 1860's, the technology for making a glazed double pane window wasn't really perfected until around 1915 and even then the "filler" was usually some sort of inert gas.
Here's a window onto Mercury from an observatory.
| The old astronomer rose
to his feet, and walking with a peculiar
rolling gait led the way to a window,
fitted with double panes of darkened
glass, with a vacuum in between.
Briggs pointed beyond the window, without saying anything further. Southern peered out across the heat-blasted plain... |
| Technovelgy from The Achilles Heel,
by Raymond Z. Gallun. Published by Amazing Stories in 1940 Additional resources -
|
As far as I know, double pane windows separated by true vacuum are still being worked on, because air pressure causes them to collapse. Most seem to involve the use of transparent spacers.
The vacuum between two surfaces is the Dewar flask idea.
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'The suit stands up and starts walking, gripping me round the calves and waist, taking the bulk of my weight off my throbbing feet.'
't came out into plain view. Darkington glimpsed a slim body and six short legs of articulated dull metal.'
'Internally it’s made up of millions of components, but the most important ones are the thinking and memory parts of the Mind proper.'
'I could look down at that face of carefully molded synthetic rubber, tinted the exact shade of the doctor's living flesh.'
'Chris, the City Fathers are not interested in your welfare; I suppose you know that. They're interested in only one thing: the survival of the city.'
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...'
