George Washington Hough was born in Tribes Hill, New York on October 24, 1836.

[2][3] He earned his BA at Union College in New York in 1856, and for a time served as a school principal in Dubuque, Iowa and as an assistant astronomer at the Cincinnati Observatory.

He introduced original plans for the dome and electric control for the telescope.

He discovered 627 double stars and made systematic studies of the surface of Jupiter.

He designed and constructed several instruments used in astronomy, meteorology, and physics.