Profesorius Antanas Žvironas
Pranciškus Launagas was born into a family of workers in Javidonys village, Vaškai rural district, Biržai county. When he was still a child, the family moved to Panevėžys where he started school, which he finished in 1939. Life was hard: Pranciškus’s health was poor and he could not study, his father died, and in search of work he moved from place to place. Still, his desire to study was growing stronger. In 1946, he finished the sixth form at Telšiai gymnasium for adults and moved to Vilnius where in 1948 he finished a gymnasium for adults. In the same year Pranciškus Launagas became a student at the Faculty of Forestry of Vilnius University, and soon asked to be transferred to the Faculty of Natural Sciences. Unfortunately, his studies did not last long: during the mass deportation operation ‘The Surf’ in 1949 he was deported to Irkutsk region and only ten years later he returned to Lithuania. While in exile, he wrote to Vilnius University asking for his school leaving certificate to be sent to Irkutsk, because he planned to study in another institution of higher learning.
