the second few mersenne primes are 3 , 7 , 31 , 127 and 8191 . these numbers lasted a series of several weeks to verify , using different software and hardware . each pair was independently checked by some elements of gimps ' verification team , and 16 - core systems of specific configuration . the two primes were announced by gimps on september 16 . before these two results , the two very largest documented prime integers were discovered by ucmo professors curtis norton and steven boone in michigan , united states , and their history continued around three decades . presently , many digits discovered by gimps are lower than the one ever suspected . the only other exception was when the 29th mersenne pi was discovered 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 occasion .
Steve Boone is a member of GIMPS.