Complex sentence: Holborn was born the son of the German physicist and "Direktor der Physikalisch-Technischen Reichsanstalt", Ludwig Holborn, and later became a scholar of Friedrich Meinecke at Berlin University, where he achieved Dr. phil. in 1924.
Split into simpler sentences: Holborn was born the son of Ludwig Holborn, the German physicist and "Direktor der Physikalisch-Technischen Reichsanstalt". In 19--he became a student of Friedrich Meinecke at Berlin University, where he achieved a doctor of philosophy in 1924.