Jean-Pierre Nuel was a Luxembourg

Luxembourg

Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

ian-Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 ophthalmologist and physiologist who was a native of Tétange

Tetange

Tétange is a town in the commune of Kayl, in south-western Luxembourg. , the town has a population of 2,813....

.

In 1870 he earned his doctorate from the University of Ghent, and became licensed to practice surgery

Surgery

Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...

 and gynecology in Luxembourg. Subsequently he opened a private practice in the town of Eich

Eich, Luxembourg

Eich is a quarter in northern Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg.In 2001, the quarter had a population of 1,334 people.-Commune:Eich was a commune in the canton of Luxembourg until 1 July 1920, when it was merged into the commune of Luxembourg...

 (today part of Luxembourg City), while furthering his studies in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, Bonn

Bonn

Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....

 and Utrecht

Utrecht (city)

Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...

. During this time his interest shifted to ophthalmology

Ophthalmology

Ophthalmology is the branch of medicine that deals with the anatomy, physiology and diseases of the eye. An ophthalmologist is a specialist in medical and surgical eye problems...

, and was particularly inspired by the work of Franciscus Donders

Franciscus Donders

-External links:* B. Theunissen. , F.C. Donders: turning refracting into science, @ History of science and scholarship in the Netherlands.* in the Virtual Laboratory of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science* P. Eling, , Geneeskundige en fysioloog....

 (1818-1889) at Utrecht.

In 1877 Nuel became a professor of ophthalmology in Louvain

Leuven

Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...

, and later a professor of physiology in Ghent

Ghent

Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...

 (1880). In 1885 he attained the chair of ophthalmology and physiology of sensory organs at Liege. In the field of otology

Otology

Otology is a branch of biomedicine which studies normal and pathological anatomy and physiology of the ear as well as its diseases, diagnosis and treatment....

, he is credited with the discovery of the eponymous "space of Nuel", which is an interval in the organ of Corti

Organ of Corti

The organ of Corti is the organ in the inner ear of mammals that contains auditory sensory cells, or "hair cells."The organ was named after the Italian anatomist Marquis Alfonso Giacomo Gaspare Corti , who conducted microscopic research of the mammaliean auditory system.-Structure and function:The...

 that is situated between the outer pillar cells on one side and the phalangeal cells

Deiters cells

Deiter's Cells contain both micro-filaments and micro-tubules which run from the Basilar membrane to the Reticular connective tissue.-Bibliography:...

 and hair cell

Hair cell

Hair cells are the sensory receptors of both the auditory system and the vestibular system in all vertebrates. In mammals, the auditory hair cells are located within the organ of Corti on a thin basilar membrane in the cochlea of the inner ear...

s on the other.

Selected writings

• Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Säugethierschnecke, (1872)
• Recherches microscopiques sur l ’anatomie du limaçon des mammifères, (1878)