Heisenberg’s idea of “prime-matter”

From around 1951, Werner Heisenberg (1901-76), the founder of quantum physics, dealt with the unified theory of elementary particles and advocated the idea of “prime-matter.” This theory asserts that the elementary particles that have been observed, of which there are approximately 300, have come into being from a prime-matter, the ultimate matter, following a cosmic equation expressed in a certain mathematical form. Heisenberg also said that “prime-matter” is the same as “prime-energy,” and that all the various kinds of elementary particles (therefore, all matter) of the universe consists of prime-energy. The prime-matter, or prime-energy, advocated by Heisenberg can be regarded as pointing to pre-matter, or pre-energy, as advocated by Unification Thought.

Today it is known that all matter consists of quarks and leptons. Recently the “sub-quark” model has been advocated. This model states that quarks and leptons are made of even more basic particles, and active research is being conducted into that area. Specifically, the sub-quark model states that all matter is made of sub-quarks, and that there are three kinds of sub-quarks, which can be regarded as different states of a single sub-quark. If this theory is correct, it follows that all matter is made of a single, basic substance. This can be seen as a contemporary version of Heisenberg’s monistic unified model. For further reference, see Hidezumi Terasawa’s Sub-quark Physics and Original Geometry (in Japanese) (Tokyo, Kyoritsu Shuppan Sha,1982), 17-21.