Ivan Pavlovich Bardin was born on November 10, 1883, and his birth was registered by the Orthodox Church on November 13. He was born into the family of tailor Pavel Dmitrievich Bardin and his wife Daria Mikhailovna in the village of Shirokiy Ustup, Atkarsky district of Saratov province, now part of Kalininsky district in Saratov region. In his childhood, Ivan suffered from cholera, and part of his family perished during the epidemic.

Bardin received primary and secondary education at vocational and agricultural schools. In 1902, at his family's insistence, he enrolled in the Novo-Alexandrian Institute of Agriculture and Forestry, but was expelled for participating in the student revolutionary movement of 1905.

In 1906, he entered the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, initially in the agronomy department, and later in the chemistry department, graduating in 1910, specializing in metallurgy of iron and steel under the guidance of Professor V. P. Izhevskiy. This sparked a deep interest in ferrous metallurgy.

Bardin worked at factories in the USA, where he labored 12-14 hours a day and thoroughly studied production. In 1912, at the Yuzovskyi plant, he met the famous Russian blast furnace operator M. K. Kurako, which ultimately determined his life path. Bardin worked at metallurgical plants: Yuzovskyi, Yenakiyevo, 'Yugstal', Makeevka, and named after F. E. Dzerzhinsky in Kamenskoye.

A representative of the Siberian branch of the State Institute for the Design of Metallurgical Plants offered Bardin a job in the construction of a new plant, and he agreed. One of the reasons for his agreement was the opportunity to realize M. K. Kurako's dream of building a metallurgical plant with large blast furnaces based on high-quality coking coal.

The initially planned plant based on the Telbes deposit was decided to be moved to the Kuznetsk area, and Telbesstroy was renamed Kuznetskstroy. In 1929 and 1937, Bardin was the chief engineer of Kuznetskstroy and one of the leaders of the construction of the I. V. Stalin Metallurgical Complex. The construction was completed in three years, and production increased from 400 thousand tons to nearly 1.5 million per year. Bardin also founded an exhibition and museum of the history of the combine.

In 1932, for his technical developments, Bardin was awarded the title of academician. From 1937, he held leadership positions in ferrous metallurgy, actively participating in the development of technical policy.

From 1939 to 1960, Bardin was the director of IMetAN. In the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, he was the deputy chairman of the Council for Coordination of Scientific Activities. In 1940 and 1946, he led a team of scientists developing the project for the construction of ChMZ.

From 1942 to 1960, Bardin was the vice-president of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. During the Great Patriotic War, he led the academy's work, headed the Ural branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, and founded several research institutes in Sverdlovsk to mobilize resources from the eastern regions of the USSR.

In 1943 and 1958, he taught at the I. V. Stalin Mining Institute and until 1960 headed the department of economics and organization of metallurgical production. From 1944 to 1960, Bardin was the director of TsNIIchermet, which has borne his name since 1960.

From 1955, he headed the Soviet committee for the International Geophysical Year and was a member of the Editorial Board of the 2nd edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Bardin was also a deputy of the Soviet Union Council of the 1st and 5th convocations.

On January 7, 1960, during a meeting at the State Planning Committee of the USSR, Bardin's heart suddenly stopped after his report. He is buried at Novodevichy Cemetery. Notably, he adopted 11 children of his repressed colleagues.