Felix Klein was born on 25 April 1849 in Düsseldorf, to Prussian parents; his father, Caspar Klein (1809–1889), was a Prussian government official's secretary stationed in the Rhine Province. Klein's mother was Sophie Elise Klein (1819–1890, née Kayser). He attended the Gymnasium in Düsseldorf, then studied mathematics and physics at the University of Bonn, 1865–1866, intending to become a Physicist. At that time, Julius Plücker had Bonn's professorship of mathematics and experimental physics, but by the time Klein became his assistant, during 1866, Plücker's interest was geometry. Klein received his doctorate, supervised by Plücker, from the University of Bonn during 1868.