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" I sometimes suspect that we're seeing something in the Internet as significant as the birth of cities. It's really something new, it's a new kind of civilization."
- William Gibson

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...

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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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Achilles Heel
  More Ideas and Technology by Raymond Z. Gallun
  Tech news articles related to The Achilles Heel
  Tech news articles related to works by Raymond Z. Gallun

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