It was discovered on 11 October 1980, by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnyj, Crimea.

[4][7]: 23 It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.4–3.2 AU once every 4 years and 7 months (1,689 days).

[1][7]: 23 Photometric observations of this asteroid collected during 2006 show a rotation period of 19.4 ± 0.2 hours with a brightness variation of 0.27 ± 0.03 magnitude.

[8] This minor planet was named in memory of Soviet physicist Abram Ioffe (1880–1960), an expert in electromagnetism, radiology, crystals, high-impact physics, thermoelectricity and photoelectricity.

Proposed by the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy, naming citation was published on 5 March 1996 (M.P.C.