Douglass Houghton (September 21, 1809 – October 13, 1845) was an American geologist and physician, primarily known for his exploration of the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan.

Raised in a close-knit, cultured home in Fredonia, New York, Douglass was a small person with a nervous, active temperament inclined toward the practical and scientific.

In 1829 Houghton entered the Rensselaer School in Troy, where, under the direction of Amos Eaton, scientific training was emphasized, particularly in geology.

In 1830 the city fathers of Detroit consulted with Eaton about their search for a public lecturer on science; he strongly recommended the youthful Houghton.

He was enthusiastically received in Detroit and rapidly became one of its best-known citizens, with the young men of his acquaintance soon styling themselves "the Houghton boys".

Houghton quickly was selected by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, US Indian Agent and geologist, to act as physician-naturalist on expeditions through Lake Superior and the upper Mississippi valley in 1831 and 1832.

On these trips Houghton did extensive botanical collecting, investigated the Lake Superior copper deposits of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and provided medical care to the Indian tribes they encountered.

He and his survey assistants spent many weeks in the field each season, mapping and evaluating Michigan's natural resources, and his personal influence with state legislators kept the project moving in the face of many financial difficulties.

While working on that survey, he and two companions drowned in Lake Superior near Eagle River, Michigan, when their small boat capsized in a storm.

His warning against prospectors rushing to the area in hopes of striking it rich became famous during the copper boom: "look closely before the step is taken, which will most certainly end in disappointment and ruin".