PHY Colloquium
Abstract: Ever since the discovery of the Integer Quantum Hall Effect and theoretical work by Thouless and collaborators, the notion of topological materials has played a central role in condensed matter physics. Surprisingly, topological materials are not only ubiquitous in relativistic quantum field theories, but actually have practical applications. I describe how parallel developments in the two fields are related, and discuss my own work on the subject, old and recent.