Ralph Ernest Powers (April 27, 1875 – January 31, 1952) was an American amateur mathematician who worked on prime numbers. He is credited with discovering the Mersenne primes M89 and M107 , in 1911 and 1914 respectively. In 1934 he verified that the Mersenne number M241 is composite.

Life

Powers was born in Fountain, Colorado Territory. Details of his life are little-known, though he appears to have been an employee of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Soon after Powers announced the discovery of M107 , the Frenchman E. Fauquembergue claimed that he had discovered it earlier, but many of Fauquembergue's other claims were later demonstrated as erroneous; thus, many prefer recognizing Powers as the discoverer, including the well-known Internet resource the PrimePages. After his own discoveries of Mersenne primes in 1911 and 1914, no Mersenne primes were discovered until Raphael M. Robinson used a computer to find the next two, on January 30, 1952, the night before Powers's death.

Works