Benjamin Fain was named after his grandfather, who was murdered in the Proskurov pogrom. During the Second World War the family was evacuated and changed location several times. After the end of the war the family stayed in Dushanbe, where Fain graduated from school. He became a student in the Moscow Institute of Energetics. During his first year in Moscow he visited synagogue and attempted to learn the Hebrew and Yiddish languages. Fain was strongly impressed by the historical visit of the first Israeli ambassador to USSR, Golda Meir. Fain managed to transfer in 1950 to the Faculty of physics in Gorky University. He graduated there summa cum laude. His instructor was future Nobel prize winner Vitaly Ginzburg.