There he met Zariski who had taught at Johns Hopkins University as a Johnston Scholar from 1927 until 1929 when he had joined the Faculty. Zariski had been working on the fundamental group of the complement of an algebraic curve, and he had found generators and relations for the fundamental group but was unable to show that he had found sufficient relations to give a presentation for the group.
Doon siya matugunan Zariski na nagtuturo sa Johns Hopkins University bilang isang Johnston Scholar mula 1927 hanggang 1929 kung kailan siya had sumali sa Faculty. Zariski had been gumawa sa ang pangunahing grupo ng magpuno ng isang algebraic curve, at siya ay natagpuan generators at relasyon para sa mga pangunahing grupo ngunit ay hindi upang ipakita na niya natagpuan ang mga relasyong sapat na upang bigyan ng isang pagtatanghal para sa grupo.