The Dutch scientist, writer and journalist Petrus L. L. Smolders (b. 1940) has contributed to the popularization of spaceflight and astronomy in the Netherlands. The name was suggested by W. A. Fröger.
Discovered on 16-10-1977 in Palomar by van Houten, C. J., van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Gehrels, T.