the first few mersenne modulo are 3 , 7 , 31 , 127 and 8191 . these numbers took a total of several moments to complete , using proprietary software and hardware . each number was separately checked by numerous member of gimps ' verify staff , using 16 - core systems of different combinations . the 2 primes were unveiled by gimps on sept 16 . before these two successes , the two previously tallest known prime possibilities were discovered by ucmo professors earnest cooper and steven logan in missouri , united states , and their work stretched almost nine albums . historically , prime numbers discovered by gimps are larger than the five previously found . the only other exception was when the 29th mersenne prime was observed after the 30th and 31st were found . founded by m . i . t . graduate george woltman in 1996 , gimps has found 12 mersenne primes , or about one single year on average .
Steve Boone is a member of GIMPS.