George Christian Hoffmann was born on June 7, 1837, in London, England.
He was a geologist and chemist. He received his early education in England and Germany and continued at the Royal School of Mines (1853) and the Royal College of Chemistry in London where he was employed as a junior assistant. He moved to Australia and worked at the Phytochemical Laboratory at Melbourne Botanic Garden. In 1872, he joined the staff of the Geological Survey of Canada and was promoted to assistant director in 1883. He was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland (1879), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, an Honorary Member of the Pharmaceutical Association of the Province of Quebec (1885), and a member of the Mineral Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1888). He received an honorary degree of LL.D. from Queen's University, Kingston. He wrote numerous reports and papers on scientific subjects.
He died on March 6, 1917, in Ottawa, Ontario.