George Woltman
Encyclopedia
George Woltman is the founder of the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search
(GIMPS), a distributed computing
project researching Mersenne prime
numbers using his software Prime95
and MPrime. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) with degrees in computer science. He is presently living in Orlando, Florida
. His mathematical libraries created for the GIMPS project are the fastest known for multiplication of large integers
, and are used by other distributed computing
projects as well.
Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search
The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search is a collaborative project of volunteers who use freely available computer software to search for Mersenne prime numbers. The project was founded by George Woltman, who also wrote the software Prime95 and MPrime for the project...
(GIMPS), a distributed computing
Distributed computing
Distributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems. A distributed system consists of multiple autonomous computers that communicate through a computer network. The computers interact with each other in order to achieve a common goal...
project researching Mersenne prime
Mersenne prime
In mathematics, a Mersenne number, named after Marin Mersenne , is a positive integer that is one less than a power of two: M_p=2^p-1.\,...
numbers using his software Prime95
Prime95
Prime95 is the name of the Microsoft Windows-based software application written by George Woltman that is used by GIMPS, a distributed computing project dedicated to finding new Mersenne prime numbers....
and MPrime. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
(MIT) with degrees in computer science. He is presently living in Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
. His mathematical libraries created for the GIMPS project are the fastest known for multiplication of large integers
Arbitrary-precision arithmetic
In computer science, arbitrary-precision arithmetic indicates that calculations are performed on numbers whose digits of precision are limited only by the available memory of the host system. This contrasts with the faster fixed-precision arithmetic found in most ALU hardware, which typically...
, and are used by other distributed computing
Distributed computing
Distributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems. A distributed system consists of multiple autonomous computers that communicate through a computer network. The computers interact with each other in order to achieve a common goal...
projects as well.