I dunno about that. I suppose it's possible, but Thunderbolts are just an evolution of a well-understood technology, just making it smaller. Tesla's designs, aside from being a good bit quirkier, seem to utilize physics that aren't well understood by the scientists of the day. That IS his hallmark, after all.

"They say one should not speak unkindly of the dead, so I say, 'nice try'." --Lezard