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"I'm strictly an ivory-tower person. I can explain things but I can't do things."
- Isaac Asimov
 |
| 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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'...there's a narrow belt where the climate is moderate.'
'... with the Master-operator all you have to do is push one! A remarkable achievement!'
'Not like me. A T-1000, advanced prototype. A mimetic poly-alloy. Liquid metal.'
'It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'The massive feet working the pedals, arms and hands flashing and glinting...'
'There were cubic miles of it, and it glistened like a silvery Christmas tree...'
'Jason had been guiding the caravan of cars as usual...'
"The robot solemnly hit a ball against the wall, picked it up and teed it, hit it again, over and again...'
