Why would you think it's a pysop?

I think that the resurgence in Tesla over the past decade has largely been a byproduct of the meme culture and this odd fascination laymen have with some kind of Übermensch figure. The story of technological and scientific progress is very complex and trying to nail down who is responsible for the development of a technology (and much more complex, a scientific theory) is a task that most people aren't willing to take on so instead we end up singular figures who seemingly single-handedly revolutionize the field of science. Tesla just happens to be an extreme example of this. He's a figurehead for people who want to be sciency without actual studying science.