Gravity and Condensed Matter Physics: The Beginning Of A Dialogue?

The AdS/CFT correspondence suggests that the study of gravity in Anti de Sitter space could prove useful in understanding strongly coupled systems of interest for example in condensed matter physics. The colloquium will review some of the developments and the promising directions in the subject. Extremal Black Holes will play an important role in the discussion and we will see how their behaviour often maps to the study of quantum critical phenomenon.