Less than a year after the 43rd known Mersenne prime was reported
(MathWorldheadline news, December 25, 2005), the GIMPS project has
discovered the 44th known Mersenne prime: 2^32582657 - 1. The discovery was
made by Dr. Curtis Cooper and Dr. Steven Boone on September 4, tentatively announced by GIMPS organizer
George Woltman on September 4, and independently verified by Tony Reix on
September 11. The new Mersenne prime has at 9808358 decimal digits, making
it not only the largest Mersenne prime known, but also the largest known
prime of any type.

Less than a year after the 43rd known Mersenne prime was reported (MathWorld
headline news, December 25, 2005), GIMPS project organizer George Woltman is
reporting in an email message that a new Mersenne prime has been reported to
the GIMPS server. A verification run on the number has been started, and
more details will be made public when verification of the discovery has been
completed.