Olah was born in Budapest, Hungary, on May 22, 1927. He studied high school at Budapesti Piarista Gimnazium (Scolopi fathers). He studied, then taught, at what is now Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Following the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, he and his family moved briefly to England, They then moved to Canada. He joined Dow Chemical in Sarnia, Ontario, with another Hungarian chemist, Stephen J. Kuhn. During Olah's eight years with Dow, he started to study carbocations. In 1965, he left Dow for Case Western Reserve University. He joined the University of Southern California faculty in 1977. In 1971, Olah became a naturalized citizen of the United States.