Complex sentence: He went on to earn MS (1901) and PhD (1903) degrees from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York before moving to Washington, DC where he spent essentially all of his professional life.
Split into simpler sentences: He went on to earn MS (1901) and PhD (1903) degrees from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Coblentz then moved to Washington, DC where he spent essentially all of his professional life.