About 1930, physicists were increasingly frustrated about the infinities of quantum electrodynamics and the strange behavior of what were believed to be nuclear electrons. As a way out of the problems Heisenberg suggested that space be subdivided in cells of finite size, and indicated in a letter to Bohr the essence of his theory. In Heisenberg’s lattice world, the electron could metamorphose into a proton, and the atomic nucleus consisted of protons and heavy ‘‘photons.’’ We analyze Heisenberg’s fascinating (but unpublished) theory in its historical context, and suggest a detailed reconstruction of the lattice world idea contained in the letter to Bohr.

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