# Bryant Tuckerman

Bryant Tuckerman
Born November 28, 1915
Died May 19, 2002 (aged 86)
Briarcliff Manor, New York[1]
Nationality American
Fields Mathematics
Institutions Cornell University
Oberlin College
Alma mater Princeton University
Antioch College[1]

Louis Bryant Tuckerman, III (November 28, 1915 – May 19, 2002) was an American mathematician, born in Lincoln, Nebraska. He was a member of the team that developed the Data Encryption Standard (DES).[1]

He studied topology at Princeton, where he invented the Tuckerman traverse method for revealing all the faces of a flexagon.[1]

Also, on March 4, 1971, he discovered the 24th Mersenne prime,[2][3] a titanic prime, with a value of

${\displaystyle 2^{19937}-1}$.

## References

1. "Obituaries: Bryant Tuckerman". Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
2. ^ Tuckerman, Bryant (October 1971). "The 24th Mersenne Prime". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 68 (10): 2319–2320. JSTOR 61035.
3. ^ Caldwell, Chris. "Mersenne Primes: History, Theorems and Lists". Retrieved 21 February 2013.