Discovered 1941 Sept. 17 by J.E. Willis at the U.S. Naval Observatory,
Washington.
Named in honor of James Ferguson (1797-1867), a civil engineer, member of the Northwest Boundary Survey, assistant in the U.S. Coast Survey, and from 1848-1867 an astronomer at the U.S. Naval Observatory on the 9.6 inch refractor. He made the first discovery of a minor planet in America in Sept. 1854, namely (31) Euphrosyne, and later discovered (50) Virginia and (60) Echo. He was a skilled computer, widely read, and an admirable conversationalist.