He completed a B.S. in physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1959. Divine was a varsity swimmer at MIT. He won 2 trophies and a medal in the interclass swimming championships where he came first in the backstroke event. He earned a M.S. in physics from University of Michigan. Divine was awarded a full tuition scholarship and the position of research assistant to pursue graduate studies at California Institute of Technology (Caltech). In the summer of 1960, Divine was the waterfront director of Camp Becket. Divine switched from astronomy to astrophysics while completing doctoral research at Caltech. In the summer of 1961, Divine worked in the planetary sciences division at the RAND Corporation. He earned a Ph.D. in astronomy at Caltech in 1965 where he developed the first numerical model of the evolution of helium stars, before they were confirmed to exist. His dissertation was titled Structure and evolution of model helium stars. His doctoral advisor was John Beverley Oke. This research is part of current star formation theory.