GIMPS （搜索梅森素数的分布式网络计算）
2005年12月15日，中密苏里州立大学的 Curtis Cooper 和 Steven Bonne 发现了第43个梅森素数——230,402,457-1。中密苏里州立大学队成为了对 GIMPS 项目贡献最多的团队。这个新发现是目前所知的最大素数（英语）。
这个新素数有 9152052 位数。这个新素数在五天内由法国格勒诺布尔的 Tony Reix 独立验证。这次核算工作动用了一台带有16个 Itanium2 1.5GHZ 处理器的 Bull NovaScale 6160 HPC 超级计算机完成。所运用的演算程序是Guillermo Ballester Valor 编写的 Glacus 程序。
发现素数的 Cooper 博士加入 GIMPS 项目已过7年，他的同事 Vince Edmondson 博士负责在全校范围内部署推广 GIMPS 程序，可惜他在2003年逝世了。 Cooper， Boone 和中密苏里州立大学的发现来之不易，他们协调着超过700台计算机！
当然，Cooper 等人不可能独立完成这些发现，我们还有着成千上万的 GIMPS 志愿者的参与！这次发现是 GIMPS 项目的第九个最大素数记录。现在就加入，您也许能成为发现下一个素数的人！
第42个梅森素数被发现
2005年2月18日，德国的Dr.Martin Nowak发现了已知的最大素数，2^25,964,951-1。这个素数共有7,816,230位数！在Nowak的P4-2.4GHz的电脑上计算了超过50天。这个新素数被法国格勒诺布尔的Tony Reix在5天时间独立检验，动用了拥有16个安腾处理器的Bull NovaScale 5000 HPC，检验程序是西班牙Guillermo Ballester Valor编写的Glucas程序。第二次检验是由加拿大渥太华的Jeff Gilchrist在15天内完成的，动用了一台拥有12个1.2GHz处理器的Compaq Alpha GS160。
此次发现新素数的Dr.Martin Nowak是眼科医生，在1999年4月通过读报得知GIMPS项目。他同时也是数学爱好者，于是他使用他的个人电脑开始运行GHIMPS。6年后，他已经由24台电脑在为GIMPS工作，而且现在，已经有了一个发现素数的成果。
第43个梅森素数被发现
为2^30,402,457-1
On December 15, 2005, Dr. Curtis Cooper and Dr. Steven Boone, professors at Central Missouri State University, discovered the 43rd Mersenne Prime, 230,402,457-1. The CMSU team is the most prolific contributor to the GIMPS project. The discovery is the largest known prime number.
The new prime is 9,152,052 digits long. This means the Electronic Frontier Foundation $100,000 award for the discovery of the first 10 million digit prime is still up for grabs!
Dr. Cooper joined GIMPS over 7 years ago with colleague Dr. Vince Edmondson. Edmondson was instrumental in the campus-wide effort until he passed away in 2003. Cooper, Boone, and CMSU truly earned this discovery, diligently coordinating over 700 PCs!
For more information on this prime discovery read the full press release.
第44个梅森素数被发现
2006年，2^32,582,657-1被证明为梅森素数
Lightning strikes twice. On September 4, 2006, in the same room just a few feet away from their last find, Dr. Curtis Cooper and Dr. Steven Boone's CMSU team broke their own world record, discovering the 44th known Mersenne prime, 232,582,657-1. The new prime at 9,808,358 digits is 650,000 digits larger than their previous record prime found last December. However, the new prime falls short of the 10 million digits required for GIMPS to claim the Electronic Frontier Foundation $100,000 award.
With five record primes found in less than 3 years, GIMPS has been on an incredible lucky streak. Never before have Mersenne primes been bunched so closely together. When looking at the exponents, we expect only 1.78 Mersenne primes between powers of two, and prior to 2003, a maximum of 3 Mersenne primes were found between powers of two. The last 5 Mersenne prime exponents all fell between 224 and 225 -- and we haven't finished testing all the exponents in that range!
The new prime was independently verified in 6 days by Tony Reix of Bull S.A. in Grenoble, France using 16 Itanium2 1.5 GHz CPUs of a Bull NovaScale 6160 HPC at Bull Grenoble Research Center, running the Glucas program by Guillermo Ballester Valor of Granada, Spain.
Dr. Cooper and Dr. Boone could not have made this discovery alone. In recognition of contributions made by the project coordinators and the tens of thousands GIMPS volunteers, credit for this new discovery goes to "Cooper, Boone, Woltman, Kurowski, et al". The discovery is the tenth record prime for the GIMPS project. Join now and you could find the next record-breaking prime! You could even win some cash.
Perfectly Scientific, Dr. Crandall's company which developed the FFT algorithm used by GIMPS, will make a poster you can order containing the entire 9.8 million digit number. It is kind of pricey because accurately printing an over-sized poster in 1-point font is not easy! This makes a cool present for the serious math nut in your family.
For more information on this prime discovery read the full press release.