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Birthday anniversary of prominent Soviet Arctic researcher Ivan D. Papanin
14 (26) November 1894, in Sevastopol, was born Ivan D. Papanin, prominent Soviet Arctic explorer, Hero of the Soviet Union, Rear Admiral.
Papanin was born to a family of sailors, his grandfather took part in the heroic defense of Sevastopol in 1854-1855 during the Crimean War, and his father served as a sailor on one of the ships of the Black Sea Fleet. Due to extreme poverty of the large family of Papanins, Ivan, having graduated from the Zemstvo primary school in 1909, started working at one of the factories of Sevastopol, where he soon became a qualified turner. In 1914 Papanin was called up for military service, and assigned to the Sevastopol naval depot. Right after the October Revolution of 1917, he joined the Black Sea detachment of the Red Army, which took an active part in hostilities of the Civil War: Papanin was one of the organizers of the partisan movement in Crimea. In 1920 he became Commissar of operational management under the Naval Commander of the Southwestern Front, and at the end of that year - the head of the Cheka squad to combat gang violence in the Crimea.
In 1922, he was transferred to Moscow in the People's Commissariat of Maritime Affairs, and then - to the People's Commissariat of Posts and Telegraphs. After graduating from high signal courses in 1925, Papanin became the head of the expedition to build radio stations in Yakutia. After successful completion of the expedition, Ivan finally switched to scientific research in the Arctic. In 1932, he was appointed head of the polar station on Franz Joseph Land, and two years later performed similar tasks for the development of high-latitudes at Cape Chelyuskin. Hard work of building the station and organizing scientific researches was highly appreciated by the Government, and in 1937 Papanin led the first world drifting station "North Pole." The drift of the station of 2100 km, which lasted 274 days, allowed the scientists taking part in the expedition (P. P. Shirshov, E. K. Fedorov, and E. T. Krenkel) to collect unique material on the nature of the high latitudes of the Arctic Ocean. Under the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of June 27, 1937 Ivan Dmitrievich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union; and also became a Doctor of Geography.
In March 1938, Ivan Dmitrievich became deputy chief and a year and a half later - the Chief of the Main Department of the Northern Sea Route (NSRA). In this role, he focused his attention to the construction of new icebreakers and the development of Arctic navigation in general. In 1940 Papanin headed the unique expedition to rescue "Georgy Sedov" vessel clamped in ice, for which he was the second time awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union.
During the Great Patriotic War, Papanin organized regular navigation along the Northern Sea Route, supervised loading and unloading in Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and other northern ports. In 1943 he was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral. In 1948 he was appointed Deputy Director of the Institute of Oceanology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, and from 1951 until his death served as chief of naval expeditions, engaged, in particular, with the creation of the national research fleet.
Ivan D. Papanin died on January 30, 1986. During his life, he was awarded with many awards and titles, including nine Orders of Lenin, two Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the October Revolution, the titles of an honorary citizen of the hero cities of Murmansk, Sevastopol and several others, and several geographic sites were named after him.
Lit.: Бороздин В. П. Мальчишка с корабельной. М., 1976; Дело наградное на Папанина И. Д. (медаль «За боевые заслуги», 1944 г. ) // ЦВМА. Ф. 3. Оп. 1. Д. 769; То же [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://www.podvignaroda.ru/?n=50648855; Дело наградное на Папанина И. Д. (орден Красной Звезды, 1945 г. ) // ЦВМА. Ф. 3. Оп. 1. Д. 1243; То же [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://www.podvignaroda.ru/?n=50610390; Дело наградное на Папанина И. Д. (орден Нахимова I степени, 1945 г. ) // ЦВМА. Ф. 3. Оп. 1. Д. 769; То же [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://www.podvignaroda.ru/?n=50631319; Папанин И. Д. Жизнь на льдине. М., 1938; Он же. Лёд и пламень. М., 1977; Тихомиров Г. С. Герой Арктики Иван Папанин. М., 1984; Он же. К истории экспедиции И. Д. Папанина. М., 1980.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials: