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This planet has been named in honor of Daniel Kirkwood {1814–1895}, professor of mathematics at Indiana University from 1856 to 1886. In 1866 he discovered the gaps in the distribution of the mean distances of the minor planets which bear his names: Kirkwood’s Gaps. This is the first numbered planet to result from the minor planet observing program at Indiana University. (M 738)

Kirkwood is also honored by a lunar crater.