horace van norman hilberry was born in cleveland, ohio, on march 11, 1899. he received his bachelor of arts (a.b.) degree from oberlin college in 1921, and then became an assistant in physics at the university of chicago. in 1925 he became an instructor in physics at washington square college in new york, where he rose to become an assistant professor in 1928. he earned his doctor of philosophy (ph.d.) from the university of chicago in 1941, writing his thesis on "extensive cosmic-ray showers and the energy distribution of the primary cosmic rays".