Slutzkin, a native of Borisoglebsk, entered the Kharkov University (KU) in 1910. He received the Kandidat Nauk (Candidate of Science – approximately equivalent to the PhD degree) from the Physics-Mathematics Department in 1916, and remained there as a docent and researcher during the turbulent times of the Russian Revolution. In 1921, prominent physicist Dmitry Rozhansky started a research department of physics at KU. Slutskin joined this activity as soon as it was formed.