I believe the solution to this puzzle is:
Key point in solving the nonogram:
Once I noticed that three of the corners had a similar
7
1, 1
1, 3, 1
1, 3, 1
1, 3, 1
1, 1
7
pattern, I figured that the image was likely a QR code, which allowed me to fill in all 3 7x7 corners. From there, I was able to follow a fairly standard nonogram algorithm to get the rest.
Solving the nonogram gives us this image:
Which looks a lot like a QR code.
If we scan the resulting QR code, it gives us "heWasBornXmas1642"
An individual famous for his studies in optics and born on December 25th, 1642 is Isaac Newton.
