the first few mersenne subsets are 3 , 7 , 31 , 127 and 8191 . these numbers took a total of sixteen weeks to verify , using different systems and electronics . each number was independently checked by five members of gimps ' evaluation team , using 16 - core arrays of identical configurations . the two coefficients were announced by gimps on september 16 . before these two conclusions , the two previously - knew prime numbers were identified by ucmo professors curtis norton and steven henry in missouri , united states , and their record lasting almost three years . presently , prime numbers discovered by gimps are larger than the one subsequently found . the only other exception was when the 29th mersenne prime was observed after the 30th and 31st were confirmed . founded by m . i . t . graduate george woltman in 1996 , gimps has found 12 mersenne vertices , or about one single year on average .
Steve Boone is a member of GIMPS.