A native of Merriman, Nebraska, he attended Gordon High School and later graduated from McGill University with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1948 and completed his Ph.D. in physics in 1954 from Columbia University.
A native of Merriman, Nebraska, he attended Gordon High School and attended Chadron State College for three years before being drafted into the army in 1943. He later graduated from McGill University with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1948 and completed his Ph.D. in physics in 1954 from Columbia University.