It was discovered on 7 September 1931, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany.

[1] In August 2012, a rotational lightcurve of Atlantis was obtained from photometric observations by Italian astronomer Albino Carbognani at the OAVdA Observatory (B04) in Italy.

Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of at least 16 hours with a brightness variation of 0.20 magnitude (U=2).

[4] This minor planet was named after the fictional island of Atlantis from Greek mythology, mentioned in some of Plato's works around 360 BC.

The greedy and morally bankrupt civilization of Atlantis was punished by the gods with fire and earthquakes that caused the island to sink into the sea.