It was discovered on 11 September 1952, by Soviet astronomer Pelageya Shajn at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula.

[15]: 23 Between 2000 and 2011, three rotational lightcurves of Kaplan were obtained from photometric observations by astronomer Brian Warner at his Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado, United States.

[9][11][12][b][a] In addition a modeled lightcurve, using photometric data from various sources, gave a concurring period of 9.45950 hours and determined two spin axis of (356.0°, −58.0°) and (233.0°, −89.0°) in ecliptic coordinates.

[5][6][7][8] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.23 – derived from 25 Phocaea, the family's parent body and namesake, and calculates a diameter of 13.89 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.5.

[3] This minor planet was named after Samuil Kaplan (1921–1978), Soviet astronomer and astrophysicist at Lvov University Observatory (067), Ukraine, and at the Radiophysical Research Institute in Nizhny Novgorod (formerly known as Gorky), Russia.