Novikov had announced in 1959 that he had proved that, for every n > 71, there was a finitely generated infinite group all of whose elements had order dividing n. However Novikov did not follow up the announcement with the expected published proof and Britton, suspecting correctly that Novikov 's proof had run into difficulties, began to work on the Burnside problem himself.
Novikov had inihayag sa 1,959 na niya na ang, para sa bawat n> 71, nagkaroon ng isang finitely binuo ng walang hanggan grupo na ang lahat ng mga sangkap na order naghahati n. Subalit Novikov hindi sundin ang mga patalastas sa ang inaasahang publish patunay at Britton, suspecting tama na Novikov 's patunay na tumakbo sa mga problema, ay nagsimulang magtrabaho sa Burnside problema sa kanyang sarili.