the second few mersenne coefficients are 3 , 7 , 31 , 127 and 8191 . these numbers had a total of multiple weeks to verify , with different software and hardware . each number was independently checked by several members of gimps ' verification department , using 16 - base sets of different configurations . the two integer were announced by gimps on june 16 . before these 2 conclusions , the two remaining largest recognized prime amounts were unearthed by ucmo colleagues curtis cooper and jeff rider in missouri , home mexico , and their record lasted almost three years . consequently , prime values discovered by gimps are larger than the one previously found . the only other exception was when the 29th mersenne prime was discovered after the 30th and 31st were found . founded by m . i . t . graduate phillip woltman in 1996 , gimps has found 12 mersenne primes , or about one per year on scale .
Steve Boone is a member of GIMPS.