Ivan Papanin

Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin
Ivan Papanin on the Polar Station North Pole-1
Born	(1894-11-26)26 November 1894 Sevastopol
Died	30 January 1986(1986-01-30) (aged 91)
Nationality	Soviet Union
Occupation	Polar explorer, scientist

Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin (Russian: Иван Дмитриевич Папанин, 26 November [O.S. 14 November] 1894 – January 30, 1986) was a Soviet polar explorer, scientist, Counter Admiral, and twice Hero of the Soviet Union, who was awarded nine Orders of Lenin.

Ivan was born in Sevastopol into the family of a sailor. In 1914 he was conscripted into the Imperial Russian Navy. He took part in the Russian Civil War on the Bolshevik side, fighting in Ukraine. In 1920 he was sent to the Crimea to organize a guerrilla movement against the forces of the White Movement leader General Baron Pyotr Wrangel.

In 1923-1932 he worked for Narkomat of Communications. In 1931 he took part in the expedition of the icebreaker Malygin to Franz Josef Land. In 1932-1933 he was the head of a polar expedition on Tikhaya Bay on Franz Josef Land. In 1934-1935 he was in command of a polar station on Cape Chelyuskin.

In 1937-1938 he was in charge of the famous expedition North Pole-1. Four researchers, Ivan Papanin, Ernst Krenkel, Yevgeny Fyodorov and Petr Shirshov, landed on the drifting ice-floes in an airplane flown by Mikhail Vodopyanov. For 234 days, Papanin's team carried out a wide range of scientific observations in the near-polar zone, until taken back by the two icebreakers Murman and Taimyr. It was the first expedition of its kind in the world. All members of the expedition received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, which was extremely rare before World War II.