George Hugh Henderson was a leading Canadian physicist during the first half of the twentieth century, best known for his work on radioactivity. He was born in St. Augustine, Florida in 1892, the son of John Alexander and Margaret Macdonald Henderson. After the death of his parents, Henderson was raised by his grandfather in Pictou, Nova Scotia. He was educated at the Pictou Academy, Dalhousie University and Cambridge University, where he studied with Ernest Rutherford.

Henderson taught at the University of Saskatoon from 1922-1924 before moving back to Halifax to take up the position of professor of mathematical physics at King's College (Dalhousie), where he remained and worked for the reminder of his life. He was a fellow of the National Research Council of Canada, the Nova Scotia Research Foundation, and the Nova Scotia Institute of Science, of which he was a past president. He served in both world wars, and in 1943 was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his outstanding contributions as the superintendent of the Naval Research Establishment at Halifax.

Henderson was married to Ruth Wallace Ross, with whom he had two daughters, Nancy and Margaret. He died in 1954 as the result of a heart attack.