the explosion of scientific research—also provided two potential solutions to it: microphotography and the cathode ray tube. The former could reduce the Encyclopaedia Britannica to the volume of a matchbox. The latter could be used to display text and pictures on glass screens. Put them together, Bush wrote, and you could construct a device “in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized, so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility.”
