It has been known since the 1970’s that quantum black holes exhibit thermal behavior. The internal structure responsible for this property was mysterious until recent discoveries in string theory. There is now a fruitful research area seeking to find detailed agreements between the conventional gravitational description of black holes and an alternate description in terms of collective phenomena. Remarkably, the field has become quite multidisciplinary with significant new ideas developed in string theory, mathematics, and particle physics.

University of Michigan