  The subject of relativistic hydrodynamics is explored using the tools of
gauge/gravity duality. A brief literature review of AdS/CFT and gauge/gravity
duality is presented first. This is followed by a pedagogical introduction to
the use of these methods in determining hydrodynamic dispersion relations,
$w(q)$, of perturbations in a strongly coupled fluid. Shear and sound mode
perturbations are examined in a special class of gravity duals: those where the
matter supporting the metric is scalar in nature. Analytical solutions (to
order $q^4$ and $q^3$ respectively) for the shear and sound mode dispersion
relations are presented for a subset of these backgrounds. The work presented
here is based on previous publications by the same author, though some
previously unpublished results are also included. In particular, the subleading
term in the shear mode dispersion relation is analyzed using the AdS/CFT
correspondence without any reference to the black hole membrane paradigm.
