  This is a translation of an article written originally in Portuguese for the
journal Gazeta de F\'isica, in a special edition celebrating the 2020 Nobel
prize in physics. The text targets a broad audience and focuses on the key
ideas and developments in an entirely non-technical fashion, requiring from the
reader only a keen interest in theoretical physics. The aim is to explain in an
accessible way -- employing only basic and intuitive concepts -- the huge
influence black holes have had in modern theoretical physics. Among the various
topics covered, string theory and the AdS/CFT correspondence, extra dimensions,
the quark-gluon plasma and holographic superconductors are highlighted.
