(9999) Wiles Main-belt Asteroid

Discovered on 29 September 1973 by van Houten, C. J., van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Gehrels, T. at Palomar.

Named in honor of Andrew J. Wiles (b. 1953), British mathematician world-renowned for his 1993 proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, one of the most difficult mathematical problems, which had remained unsolved for more than 350 years. A gap in the proof was closed by Wiles in 1994. His achievement came too late for him to receive the Field Medal, because Wiles was then over the age limit of 40. The International Mathematical Union therefore gave him its most prestigious award, the Silver Plaque. Wiles' fields of research are number theory and arithmetic geometry. He is a professor at Princeton University.Naming citation (19990402/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL

Where Wiles is today

Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Wiles is 2.83 au from the Sun and 1.91 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.

Facts

Number	9999
Provisional designation	4196 T-2
Orbit class	Main-belt Asteroid
Diameter	7.15 km (#7,463 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size)
Albedo	0.262
Rotation period	3.48 hours
Absolute magnitude (H)	13.2
Orbital period	4.78 years
Semi-major axis	2.84 au
Perihelion – aphelion	2.64 – 3.04 au
Eccentricity	0.0694
Inclination	3.20°
Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID)	1.63 au

Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.

Also named after someone called Andrew

All asteroids named after someone called Andrew

Also discovered on 29 September 1973

More named asteroids discovered by van Houten, C. J., van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Gehrels, T.

All 958

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