transport: Channing Robertson

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

Channing Rex Robertson is a professor emeritus of chemical engineering at Stanford University. He held multiple significant roles at startup Theranos, founded by his student Elizabeth Holmes. Robertson took on major responsibilities at the company prior to its collapse, including becoming its first board member, engaging with venture capitalists, and recruiting biochemist Ian Gibbons. He retired from Stanford in 2012, becoming professor emeritus. Theranos named him the co-leader of their technology advisory board in 2017. He was called as a witness in United States v. Elizabeth A. Holmes, et al., which convicted Holmes and partner Sunny Balwani of criminal fraud. During his time working for…

Evidence: 35 • authority: 80

Robertson, Charles Robert Suttie, (23 Nov. 1920–2 Jan. 1999), Member, Management Committee of The Distillers Company plc, 1970–82, retired; chartered accountant

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Jeffrey Preston Bezos ( BAY-zohss; né Jorgensen; born January 12, 1964) is an American businessman, and the founder, executive chairman, and former president and CEO of Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce and cloud computing company. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes, he was the world's wealthiest person from 2017 to 2021, and in 2026, his net worth was approximately US$284 billion. He is commonly considered part of the global elite. Bezos was born in Albuquerque, and raised in Houston and Miami. He graduated from Princeton University in 1986 with a degree in engineering. He worked on Wall Street in a variety of related fields from 1986 to early 1994. He founded Am…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Peter Andreas Thiel ( ; born 11 October 1967) is a German-American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and conservative political activist. A co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, he was also the first outside investor in Facebook. As of October 2026, Forbes estimated Thiel's net worth at US$37.7 billion. Born in Germany, Thiel moved to the US with his parents when he was an infant. In 1971, his family moved to South African-occupied Namibia, before moving back to the US in 1977. After graduating from Stanford University, Thiel worked as a clerk, a securities lawyer, a speechwriter, and a derivatives trader at Credit Suisse. He founded Thiel Capital Management in 199…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Ian Gibbons (March 6, 1946 – May 23, 2013) was a British biochemist and molecular biology researcher who served as the chief scientist of the American company Theranos, which was founded by Elizabeth Holmes. He had a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge, and was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. For more than 30 years, Gibbons performed research in medical therapeutics and diagnostic testing prior to joining Theranos in 2005. Gibbons attempted to raise issues with Holmes, and Theranos' management, about the inaccuracy of their testing devices — to no avail. In 2013, Gibbons intentionally overdosed on acetaminophen the night before he was…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Theranos Inc. () was an American privately held corporation that was touted as a breakthrough health technology company. Founded in 2003 by then–19-year-old Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos raised more than US$700 million from venture capitalists and private investors, resulting in a $9 billion valuation at its peak in 2013 and 2014. The company falsely claimed that it had devised blood tests that could be performed rapidly and accurately, while requiring very small amounts of blood, all using compact automated devices that the company had developed. A turning point came in 2015, when medical research professor John Ioannidis, and later, professor of clinical biochemistry Eleftherios Diamandis, a…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The Dropout is an American biographical drama television miniseries about the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the disgraced biotechnology company Theranos; she is played by Amanda Seyfried. Created by Elizabeth Meriwether, the series is based on the ABC News podcast of the same name hosted by Rebecca Jarvis. The series features an ensemble supporting cast, including Naveen Andrews, Elizabeth Marvel, William H. Macy, Stephen Fry, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Bill Irwin, Utkarsh Ambudkar, LisaGay Hamilton, Michael Ironside, Laurie Metcalf, Anne Archer, and Sam Waterston. It is the first television project produced by Searchlight Television. The Dropout premiered on the streaming service H…