Kolmogorov had completely solved Hilbert 's Thirteenth Problem in 1957 and he was surrounded by a remarkably active research group. Topology, on the other hand, was not such an important topic at that time as far as Moscow University was concerned, so when Postnikov went to China for the academic year 1958-59, Novikov was left without a supervisor.
Kolmogorov had ganap na malulutas Hilbert 's ikalabintatlo Problema sa 1957 at siya ay napapaligiran ng isang napaka aktibo research group. Topology, sa iba pang mga kamay, ay hindi tulad ng isang mahalagang paksa sa oras na iyon makaabot Moscow University ay nag-aalala, kaya kapag Postnikov napunta sa China para sa akademikong taon 1958-59, Novikov ay isang tagapamahala walang pakaliwa.