Werner Heinrich Julius Kolhörster (28.12.1887-5.06.1946) was a German physicist. He was born in Schwiebus. He graduated from the university in Halle (1911). From 1930 he worked at the University of Berlin (professor from 1935), and from 1935 he was also director of the Institute of Cosmic Ray Research.
His research was in the field of the physics of cosmic rays. In 1913 — 19 he made many balloon flights to measure the intensity of ionising radiation and confirmed V. Hess's conclusion that cosmic radiation exists. In 1929, together with W. Bothe, he developed the coincidence technique for recording charged particles and carried out a series of experiments to clarify the nature of cosmic rays (the Bothe and Kolhörster experiments); he came to the conclusion that the primary cosmic radiation consists of charged particles. Independently of P. Auger he observed (1938) extensive air showers.