Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Do twin primes go on forever? Sponsored by Brilliant - Head to brilliant.org/veritasium to try Brilliant’s tutor for free, plus receive 20% off an annual Premium subscription
If you’re looking for a molecular modelling kit, try Snatoms, a kit I invented where the atoms snap together magnetically - ve42.co/SnatomsV
Sign up for the Veritasium newsletter for weekly science updates - ve42.co/Newsletter
For early access to work in progress videos join our patreon ve42.co/VePatreon
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A huge thank you to Alex Kontorovich, Andrew Granville, James Maynard, Roger Heath-Brown, Dimitris Koukoulopoulos, Debmalya Basak & George Shakan for their invaluable expertise and contributions to this video!
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0:00 What are twin primes?
3:08 How To Find Prime Numbers
6:11 The Sieve of Eratosthenes
11:26 The Closest We’ve Come To Proving Twin Primes
15:54 Searching For A Bounded Gap
18:47 How A Subway Worker Changed The Game
29:20 Finding An Upper Bound
32:04 Maynard and Polymath
36:42 Will we solve the twin prime conjecture?
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References can be found here: ve42.co/TwinPrimesRefs
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Special thanks to our Patreon supporters:
Adam Foreman, Albert Wenger, Alex Porter, Alexander Tamas, Anton Ragin, armedtoe, Balkrishna Heroor, Bertrand Serlet, Blake Byers, Bruce, Charles Ian Norman Venn, Daniel Martins, Data Don, Dave Kircher, David Johnston, David Tseng, EJ Alexandra, Evgeny Skvortsov, Garrett Mueller, Gnare, Hayden Christensen, Hong Thai Le, Ibby Hadeed, Jeromy Johnson, Jesse Brandsoy, Jon Jamison, Juan Benet, Kelcey Steele, KeyWestr, Kyi, Lee Redden, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Mark Heising, Martin Paull, Meekay, meg noah, Michael Krugman, Moebiusol - Cristian, Orlando Bassotto, Parsee Health, Paul Peijzel, Richard Sundvall, Robson, Sam Lutfi, Shalva Bukia, Sinan Taifour, Tj Steyn, Ubiquity Ventures, Vahe Andonians, wolfee
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Writers: Vibhor Pandey, Casper Mebius and Alex Kontorovich
Producer & Director: Vibhor Pandey
Presenters: Derek Muller & Casper Mebius
Editors: George Reynolds & Trenton Oliver
Camera Operators: Casper Mebius & Derek Muller
Animators: Emma Wright, Andrew Neet, Alex Drakoulis, Domonkos Józsa & Fabio Albertelli
Illustrators: Jakub Misiek
Additional Editor: James Stuart
Researchers: Darius Garewal, Gabe Strong, Sophia Rose
Thumbnail Designers: Abdallah Rabah, Ben Powell, Daniel Ellacott & Patryk Ziolkowski
Production Team: Jess Bishop-Laggett, Matthew Cavanagh, Anna Milkovich & Josh Pitt
Executive Producers: Derek Muller, Casper Mebius & Emily Zhang
Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images & Storyblocks
Music from Epidemic Sound
Do twin primes go on forever? Sponsored by Brilliant - Head to brilliant.org/veritasium to try Brilliant’s tutor for free, plus receive 20% off an annual Premium subscription
If you’re looking for a molecular modelling kit, try Snatoms, a kit I invented where the atoms snap together magnetically - ve42.co/SnatomsV
Sign up for the Veritasium newsletter for weekly science updates - ve42.co/Newsletter
For early access to work in progress videos join our patreon ve42.co/VePatreon
▀▀▀
A huge thank you to Alex Kontorovich, Andrew Granville, James Maynard, Roger Heath-Brown, Dimitris Koukoulopoulos, Debmalya Basak & George Shakan for their invaluable expertise and contributions to this video!
▀▀▀
0:00 What are twin primes?
3:08 How To Find Prime Numbers
6:11 The Sieve of Eratosthenes
11:26 The Closest We’ve Come To Proving Twin Primes
15:54 Searching For A Bounded Gap
18:47 How A Subway Worker Changed The Game
29:20 Finding An Upper Bound
32:04 Maynard and Polymath
36:42 Will we solve the twin prime conjecture?
▀▀▀
References can be found here: ve42.co/TwinPrimesRefs
▀▀▀
Special thanks to our Patreon supporters:
Adam Foreman, Albert Wenger, Alex Porter, Alexander Tamas, Anton Ragin, armedtoe, Balkrishna Heroor, Bertrand Serlet, Blake Byers, Bruce, Charles Ian Norman Venn, Daniel Martins, Data Don, Dave Kircher, David Johnston, David Tseng, EJ Alexandra, Evgeny Skvortsov, Garrett Mueller, Gnare, Hayden Christensen, Hong Thai Le, Ibby Hadeed, Jeromy Johnson, Jesse Brandsoy, Jon Jamison, Juan Benet, Kelcey Steele, KeyWestr, Kyi, Lee Redden, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Mark Heising, Martin Paull, Meekay, meg noah, Michael Krugman, Moebiusol - Cristian, Orlando Bassotto, Parsee Health, Paul Peijzel, Richard Sundvall, Robson, Sam Lutfi, Shalva Bukia, Sinan Taifour, Tj Steyn, Ubiquity Ventures, Vahe Andonians, wolfee
▀▀▀
Writers: Vibhor Pandey, Casper Mebius and Alex Kontorovich
Producer & Director: Vibhor Pandey
Presenters: Derek Muller & Casper Mebius
Editors: George Reynolds & Trenton Oliver
Camera Operators: Casper Mebius & Derek Muller
Animators: Emma Wright, Andrew Neet, Alex Drakoulis, Domonkos Józsa & Fabio Albertelli
Illustrators: Jakub Misiek
Additional Editor: James Stuart
Researchers: Darius Garewal, Gabe Strong, Sophia Rose
Thumbnail Designers: Abdallah Rabah, Ben Powell, Daniel Ellacott & Patryk Ziolkowski
Production Team: Jess Bishop-Laggett, Matthew Cavanagh, Anna Milkovich & Josh Pitt
Executive Producers: Derek Muller, Casper Mebius & Emily Zhang
Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images & Storyblocks
Music from Epidemic Sound
