George Elwood Nichols (1882–1939) was a botanist, bryologist, algologist and ecologist, one of the founders of the Ecological Society of America.

After secondary school at Hillhouse High School, Nichols matriculated in 1900 at Yale University, there receiving in 1904 his bachelor's degree and in 1909 his Ph.D.; in 1910 his thesis was published in Beihefte zum Botanischen Centralblatt.

Beginning in 1920, each summer he worked at the University of Michigan's biological station at Douglas Lake.

At the biological station he studied algae and bryophytes, writing about 25 articles on his findings.

[4] In 1938, he was elected President of the American Bryological and Lichenological Society, a role which he served until his death.