Motzkin grew up in Berlin and started studying mathematics at an early age as well, entering university when he was only 15.[1] He received his Ph.D. in 1934 from the University of Basel under the supervision of Alexander Ostrowski[3] for a thesis on the subject of linear programming[2] (Beiträge zur Theorie der linearen Ungleichungen, "Contributions to the Theory of Linear Inequalities", 1936[4]).