Samuel Yates (May 10, 1919 in Savannah, Georgia – April 22, 1991 in New Brunswick, New Jersey) was a computer engineer and mathematician who first described unique primes in 1980[1] In 1984 he began the list of "Largest Known Primes" (today The Prime Pages) and coined the name titanic prime for any prime with 1,000 or more decimal digits. He also called those who proved their primality "titans". He also coined the term gigantic prime for any prime with 10,000 or more decimal digits. He is the author of Repunits and Repetends[2] .
Between 1940 and 1973 Yates worked a number of different positions at the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Aero Service Corporation, United States Army Map Service and Radio Corporation of America before becoming a mathematical researcher from 1973.
He attained a Bachelor in Mathematics from George Washington University, a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania as well as doing a postgrad there.