text: Born in Schickenhof, Kingdom of Bavaria (now Freihung), Stark was educated at  Bayreuth Gymnasium (secondary school) and later in Regensburg. His collegiate education began at the University of Munich, where he studied physics, mathematics, chemistry, and crystallography. His tenure at that college began in 1894; he graduated in 1897, with his doctoral dissertation titled Untersuchung über einige physikalische, vorzüglich optische Eigenschaften des Rußes  (Investigation of some physical, in particular optical properties of soot).