„In modern quantum theory there can be no doubt that the elementary particles will finally also be mathematical forms“

— Werner Heisenberg

Tags:

„The elementary particles in Plato's Timaeus are finally not substance but mathematical forms. "All things are numbers" is a sentence attributed to Pythagoras.“
— Werner Heisenberg
„Therefore, the mathematical forms that represent the elementary particles will be solutions of some eternal law of motion for matter.“
— Werner Heisenberg
„Fundamental ideas play the most essential role in forming a physical theory. Books on physics are full of complicated mathematical formulae. But thought and ideas, not formulae, are the beginning of every physical theory. The ideas must later take the mathematical form of a quantitative theory, to make possible the comparison with experiment.“
— Albert Einstein
„I think that modern physics has definitely decided in favor of Plato. In fact the smallest units of matter are not physical objects in the ordinary sense; they are forms, ideas which can be expressed unambiguously only in mathematical language.“
— Werner Heisenberg