Named in memory of Charles Darwin (1809-1882), the English naturalist who first established the theory of organic evolution; much of his research was done in Argentina, and he crossed the Andes at a pass located some 100 km south of El Leoncito.  This planet also honors his second son, George Howard Darwin (1845-1912), the astronomer noted for his pioneering application of detailed dynamical analyses to problems of cosmogony and geology.

Orbit type: Main Belt Asteroid

Reference: MPC 53173

Named in honor of Stephen Hawking (b. 1942), theoretical physicist, professor of mathematics at Cambridge University. He is renowned for his research on cosmology and quantum gravitation theory, as well as on the physics of black holes. Besides his scientific work, he is also the author of the well-known popularizations A Brief History of Time and Black holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays. He was named an Honorary Member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada on 1985-01-26. 

Orbit type: Main Belt Asteroid

Reference: MPC 31297

Named in honor of the Reverend Robert O. Evans, Australian amateur astronomer and discoverer of several extragalactic supernovae.  Evans has successfully used a systematic visual search program to examine selected galaxies for supernova activity.  Name proposed by the discoverer following a suggestion by P. L. Dombrowski.  He was named an Honorary Member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada on 1993-02-06.

Orbit type: Main Belt Asteroid

Reference: MPC 10845

Named for Andrew Fraknoi on the occasion of his resignation as executive director of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. He was named an Honorary Member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada on 2011-10-29.

Orbit type: Main Belt Asteroid

Reference: MPC 20522

Andrew J. Feustel (b. 1965), NASA astronaut, served on the crew of STS-125, which successfully extended the Hubble Telescope capabilities, and STS-134, Space Shuttle Endeavour’s final mission, which delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. He also takes part in public outreach. Dr. Feustel received his PhD in Geological Sciences from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario in 1995.

Orbit type: Main Belt

Reference: MPC 75550

Named in honor of David L. Crawford (b. 1931), astronomer at the Kitt Peak National Observatory recognized for his fundamental contributions to protecting dark skies around observatories from light pollution through good outdoor lighting practices. In 1972 he was instrumental in establishing the first comprehensive lighting code, which regulated outdoor lighting in southern Arizona, and the code has become a model for such regulation throughout the world.

Named for Aceraceae, the maple family, with two genera and more than 100 species. One well-known species is Acer saccharum (sugar maple), the sap of which is used for maple syrup and maple sugar.

Orbit type: Main Belt Asteroid

Reference: MPC 34348

Dr. Elizabeth Harper-Clark (married name: Boulianne) (b. 1984) was a finalist in the 2002 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for their Earth and space sciences project. They studied at Presdales School, U.K.; Cambridge University, UK, MIT, Boston, USA and University of Toronto, Canada. Elizabeth received their PhD from the University of Toronto in 2011, working on computer simulations of the disruption of nebulae by the stars within them.

Orbit type: Main Belt Asteroid

Reference: MPC 46104