The article is dedicated to the important date – 125 years since the birth of I.D. Papanin. Many people know Papanin as a famous polar researcher, scientist and organizer of expeditions, a public figure, the head of the Borok biostation. But, of course, the key event of his life is a drift under his leadership the world’s first scientific station «North Pole» in the Arctic Ocean in 1937–1938. This is an unprecedented event of world significance and scale, as well as a feat of courage, endurance and determination of all four participants in the drift, who were called «Papanintsi».