 Frank Murnaghan was born in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, Ireland, seventh of the nine children of George Murnaghan, Nationalist MP representing Mid Tyronne constituency.He graduated from Irish Christian Brothers secondary school in 1910, and University College Dublin with first-class honors BSc in Mathematical Sciences in 1913.Following an MSc in 1914, he was awarded a National University of Ireland (NUI) Travelling Studentship, which funded him to pursue his doctorate at Johns Hopkins University.