Complex sentence: He earned a bachelor's degree from Columbia University in 1939, and graduated in 1942 as PhD from the California Institute of Technology with a thesis titled "Static electricity generated during the distribution of gasoline".
Split into simpler sentences: He earned a bachelor's degree from Columbia University in 1939 and received his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 1942. His dissertation was "Static electricity generated during the distribution of gasoline".