Being a nutter is no impediment to genius
.
However it does put investors off if you talk to your socks or live in a cave or something.
According to the TV show "Sanctuary", Tesla is actually an immortal who faked his own death, and lives-on behind-the-scenes, as it were.
I find this hard to believe, but not completely out of the question as I've done it four times in the last 700 years.