the first few mersenne compute are 3 , 7 , 31 , 127 and 8191 . these numbers takes a combined of few cycles to verify , using different machines and methods . each number was later determined by several others of gimps ' verification team , using 16 - core systems of different shapes . the two primes were announced by gimps on september 16 . before these respective discoveries , the two previously largest identified such numbers were discovered by ucmo faculty earnest cooper and steven boone in missouri , united nations , and their record had over three years . historically , prime amounts discovered by gimps are larger than the one yet discovered . the only other exception was when the 29th mersenne prime was discovered after the 30th and 31st were located . founded by m . i . t . scientist george woltman in 1996 , gimps has found 12 mersenne primes , or about 10 per year on aggregate .
Steve Boone is a member of GIMPS.