Deutsch enrolled at MIT, where he excelled at mathematics and physics. He received his BS degree in 1937, after two years of study. In 1939, he married Suzanne Zeitlin, a native Bostonian who had just graduated from Simmons College with a master's degree in Social Work. They had two children, L. Peter Deutsch and Nicholas Deutsch. Martin earned his Ph.D. in Physics in 1941, under Robley D. Evans leading to a thesis entitled: "A Study of Nuclear Radiations by Means of a Magnetic Lens Beta Ray Spectrometer."