4587 Rees are credited with the discovery of . This minor planet was named after Martin Rees (born 1942), a much awarded English cosmologist and astrophysicist who has studied the galactic evolution. Rees became Astronomer Royal and President of the Royal Society in 1995 and 2005, respectively. He is also the director of the Institute of Astronomy and a professor of astronomy at the University of Cambridge. The asteroid's name was proposed by Jan Oort, and the was published by the Minor Planet Center on 28 April 1991 (). "Rees" is an assumed, stony S-type asteroid. Other sources published by EARN assume
Merlyn Rees deed poll to Merlyn Merlyn-Rees to allow his title to be Merlyn-Rees rather than Rees. He was president of the Video Standards Council from 1990 and was the first Chancellor of the University of Glamorgan, a position he held from 1994 to 2002. He suffered injuries in a number of falls, and failing to recover from these, fell into a coma, dying at the age of 85. He was survived by his wife Colleen and three sons. Merlyn Rees Avenue in Morley, West Yorkshire is named after Rees. Merlyn Rees Community High School in Belle Isle, Leeds was named after