Named in honor of the computer Hal 9000 that is the central character of both Clarke’s {see planet  (4923)} novel and Kubrick’s {see planet  (10221)} movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Hal serves to this day, more than three decades later, as an icon for artificial intelligence and a beacon that has motivated an incalculable number of careers in computing, computer science, electrical engineering and space exploration. (M 34628) _ _.