It was discovered on 27 July 1990, by American astronomer Henry E. Holt at Palomar Observatory in California, United States.
[1] A first precovery was taken at the Australian Siding Spring Observatory in 1975, extending the body's observation arc by 15 years prior to its official discovery at Palomar.
[3] In July 2011, a rotational lightcurve of Bobbywilliams was obtained from photometric observations by astronomer Julian Oey at both the Australian Kingsgrove (E19) and Leura (E17) observatories.
[4] This minor planet was named for Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer Bobby G. Williams (born 1951), specialized in celestial mechanics and the navigation of space probes.
He has been a leading navigation manager when NEAR Shoemaker had its rendezvous with the asteroids 253 Mathilde and 433 Eros,[2] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 28 July 1999 (M.P.C.