It was discovered on 22 August 1979, by Swedish astronomer Claes-Ingvar Lagerkvist at ESO's La Silla Observatory in northern Chile.
[6] According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Tancredi measures 15.9 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.07,[4][5] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.08 and calculates a diameter of 12.8 kilometers using an absolute magnitude of 12.81.
[3] This minor planet was named after Gonzalo Tancredi (born 1963), the Uruguayan astronomer who also obtained the body's first rotational lightcurve.
In 1993 he did his PhD at Uppsala Observatory, Sweden, and is now a professor of astronomy at Uruguay University and an active member of the IAU.
[9] Using both observations and theoretical modeling, he works on the dynamical and physical evolution of comets and their interactions with minor planets in the Solar System.