Goethe Link

(May 20, 1879-Dec. 31, 1980). Surgeon Goethe Link was born in Selvin, Warrick County, Indiana. His father, a teacher turned physician, influenced his choice of profession. By the time Link entered medical school, he had earned a bachelor’s degree (Indiana University, 1898) and also had become a registered pharmacist. He received his M.D. degree from the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons in Indianapolis in 1902 (See MEDICAL SCHOOLS).

Following an internship at City Hospital, Link entered the private practice of medicine with his father in a downtown office on Virginia Avenue. He also had been appointed to the Central College faculty in the department of anatomy. This opportunity enabled him to master the vascular intricacy of the thyroid gland, basic knowledge that enabled him to perfect surgical procedures for correction of certain thyroid disorders. He performed over 22,000 such surgeries.

Dr. Link also achieved recognition as an aeronaut (winner of the 1909 National Balloon Race), herpetologist, ornithologist, and amateur astronomer. He presented his Link Observatory, located south of Mooresville, to Indiana University in 1948. An asteroid was named in his honor in 1968.

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