the very few mersenne primes are 3 , 7 , 31 , 127 and 8191 . these numbers taken a series of several weeks to verify , uses both software and hardware . each number was independently checked by six members of gimps ' verification process , using 16 - core systems of different sizes . the remaining primes were announced by gimps on september 16 . before these new discoveries , the two previously larger known prime numbers were discovered by ucmo colleagues curtis coop and steven snyder in missouri , united states , and their record held almost eight years . historically , prime values identified by gimps are larger than the one previously noted . the only other exception was when the 29th mersenne prime was found after the 30th and 31st were found . invented by m . i . t . graduate robert woltman in 1996 , gimps has found 12 mersenne congruent , or about one per week on occasions .
Steve Boone is a member of GIMPS.