>
> Currently (17 Aug, 1999) what is the largest known prime and who
> is getting the credit for its discovery?
The largest known prime is: M_6,972,593 = 2^6,972,593-1
Here is an excerpt from GIMPS official press release.
<q>
ORLANDO, Florida, June 30, 1999 -- Nayan Hajratwala, a participant in
the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS), has discovered the
first known million-digit prime number using software written by George
Woltman and the distributed computing technology and services of Scott
Kurowski's company, Entropia.com, Inc. The prime number, 2^6,972,593-1,
contains 2,098,960 digits qualifying for the $50,000 award offered by
the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). An article is being submitted
to an academic journal for consideration.
</q>
http://www.mersenne.org/6972593.htm
>
>
> What book(s) would you recommend as good reading (undergraduate
> level) regarding the history of prime numbers.
I know of no books devoted to the Prime numbers history in particular.
Information can be found in books on numbers in general
(Ore, Dickson, Conway - Guy, etc)
Another useful book is:
Ribenboim, Paulo: The New Book of Prime Number Records. 3rd ed.
New York, NY: Springer-Verlag, 1996
Web:
Chris Caldwell's site on Primes:
http://www.utm.edu/research/primes/
Antreas