Born in 1920, Radhanath Rath was educated in a village primary school situated at Tallaram Palli, Ganjam district, the southern part of Odisha. He lost both his parents at an early age and was brought up by his elder brother and other family members. He completed his high school education in 1937 from Ravenshaw Collegiate School, Cuttack, and passed Intermediate Arts from the legendary Ravenshaw College, Cuttack, in 1939, and then went to Patna University to pursue graduation. He graduated with Philosophy honors in 1941 in first-class and secured the first position. Then he completed his Master's degree in philosophy from Patna University in the year 1943, again securing first positing in the University. He started his teaching career as a lecturer in Philosophy at Ravenshaw College in 1944. As in those days, Psychology was taught as a separate subject only in Calcutta University, he availed leave for four months and joined as an external student in the Psychology Department of Calcutta University. He attended all the classes in Psychology under the guidance of scholarly and renowned teachers like Dr. Girindra Sekhar Bose, the then Head of the Department. Following World war in 1945, when Indian students started going to British Universities, Prof. Rath wrote a request letter to the Head of the Department of Psychology, London University, requesting an opportunity to pursue his studies and was successful in securing a seat for himself. The UPSC recognizing his merit, sent him on a scholarship to London. At that time, even a Master's degree from the Indian universities was not considered equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree from London University. Driven by his extraordinary intellect and passion for Psychology, he qualified in an examination of the London University meant for doing Ph.D. research and was admitted for Ph.D. in Psychology. He completed his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the London University in 1949 under the supervision of Sir Cyril Burt, an intelligence theorist, who is even now known to researchers in Psychology all across the globe. Dr. Rath stayed in London from 1946 to 1949.