Answer: The largest known prime number listed is 2 136 279 841 -1, discovered on 2024 Oct 12 by GIMPS / Luke Durant, though it is marked as a provisional ranking.
Status: Confirmed
Entry: science/largest-prime
Revision: 21
Digest: sha256:c90c95607ee43b13 (changes whenever the content changes)

Timeline:
  Created: 2026-11-12T10:37:22Z
  Last changed: 2026-11-12T11:24:08Z (Ranking status: — → Provisional ranking)
  Last verified: 2026-11-12T11:34:20Z
  Next check: 2026-11-19T11:34:20Z
  Check interval: Weekly
  Expected change: No fixed schedule

Data:
  Field | Value | Unit | Source | As of
  Largest known prime | 2 136 279 841 -1 |  | [1] | 2026-11-12
  Number of digits | 41 024 320 | digits | [1] | 2026-11-12
  Date discovered | 2024 Oct 12 |  | [1] | 2026-11-12
  Discovered by | GIMPS / Luke Durant |  | [1] | 2026-11-12
  Ranking status | Provisional ranking |  | [1] | 2026-11-12

Sources:
  [1] GIMPS. "List of known Mersenne prime numbers - PrimeNet". https://www.mersenne.org/primes/
      Role: primary. Accessed: 2026-11-12T11:34:20Z
      Quote: "52 * 2 136 279 841 -1 41 024 320 2024 Oct 12 GIMPS / Luke Durant" (Supports: Largest known prime)
      Quote: "2 136 279 841 -1 41 024 320 2024 Oct 12" (Supports: Number of digits)
      Quote: "2 136 279 841 -1 41 024 320 2024 Oct 12 GIMPS / Luke Durant" (Supports: Date discovered)
      Quote: "2024 Oct 12 GIMPS / Luke Durant PRP / Gpuowl on NVIDIA A100" (Supports: Discovered by)
      Quote: "* Provisional ranking, not all candidates between M 82 589 933 and M 136 279 841 have been eliminated" (Supports: Ranking status)
      Snapshot SHA-256: 084567381310c8244d9ca48a23725dba090533e69289ab29c8111d8a13481716 (captured 2026-11-12T11:34:20Z)

Verification:
  Method: Automated extraction from [1] with deepseek-flash (JSON output, thinking disabled). Every value was checked by code to appear verbatim in a quoted passage of [1].
  Cross-check: not-available at 2026-11-12T11:34:20Z. No independent second source is configured for this entry
  Last successful check: 2026-11-12T11:34:20Z
  Last attempt: 2026-11-12T11:34:20Z

Notes and limitations:
  Extracted automatically from a single official source.

Change log:
  Time | Event | Change | Source
  2026-11-12T11:24:08Z | changed | Ranking status: — → Provisional ranking | [1]
  2026-11-12T11:24:08Z | changed | Discovered by: — → GIMPS / Luke Durant | [1]
  2026-11-12T11:24:08Z | changed | Date discovered: — → 2024 Oct 12 | [1]
  2026-11-12T11:24:08Z | changed | Number of digits: — → 41 024 320 | [1]
  2026-11-12T11:24:08Z | changed | Largest known prime: — → 2 136 279 841 -1 | [1]
  2026-11-12T11:24:08Z | changed | ranking note: Provisional ranking, not all candidates between M 82 589 933 and M 136 279 841 have been eliminated → — | [1]
  2026-11-12T11:24:08Z | changed | discovered by: GIMPS / Luke Durant → — | [1]
  2026-11-12T11:24:08Z | changed | date discovered: 2024 Oct 12 → — | [1]
  2026-11-12T11:24:08Z | changed | digits: 41 024 320 → — | [1]
  2026-11-12T11:24:08Z | changed | largest known prime: 2 136 279 841 -1 → — | [1]
  2026-11-12T10:44:40Z | changed | ranking note: — → Provisional ranking, not all candidates between M 82 589 933 and M 136 279 841 have been eliminated | [1]
  2026-11-12T10:44:40Z | changed | discovered by: — → GIMPS / Luke Durant | [1]
  2026-11-12T10:44:40Z | changed | date discovered: — → 2024 Oct 12 | [1]
  2026-11-12T10:44:40Z | changed | digits: — → 41 024 320 | [1]
  2026-11-12T10:44:40Z | changed | largest known prime: — → 2 136 279 841 -1 | [1]
  2026-11-12T10:44:40Z | changed | Ranking status: Provisional ranking → — | [1]
  2026-11-12T10:44:40Z | changed | Discovered by: GIMPS / Luke Durant → — | [1]
  2026-11-12T10:44:40Z | changed | Date discovered: 2024 Oct 12 → — | [1]
  2026-11-12T10:44:40Z | changed | Number of digits: 41 024 320 → — | [1]
  2026-11-12T10:44:40Z | changed | Largest known prime: 2 136 279 841 -1 → — | [1]
  2026-11-12T10:37:22Z | added | Entry created | —
  Changes for this entry as a feed: https://latestn.com/science/largest-prime/latest

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  How: If a value here is wrong or out of date, send what is wrong and a link to evidence. Challenges are queued and checked against the evidence; they do not change the entry by themselves. If the entry changes as a result, the change log says so.
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How to cite:
    latestN. (2026). What is the largest known prime number? Revision 21, last verified 2026-11-12T11:34:20Z. https://latestn.com/science/largest-prime (accessed 2026-11-12T12:52:51Z).

    @misc{latestN_science_largest_prime_r21,
      title        = {What is the largest known prime number?},
      author       = {{latestN}},
      year         = {2026},
      howpublished = {\url{https://latestn.com/science/largest-prime}},
      note         = {Revision 21; digest sha256:c90c95607ee43b13; last verified 2026-11-12T11:34:20Z; accessed 2026-11-12T12:52:51Z}
    }

URL: https://latestn.com/science/largest-prime