The Wonders of Supersymmetry: From Quantum Mechanics, Topology, and Noise, to (maybe) the LHC

Supersymmetry, relating bosons and fermions was discovered almost 40 years ago in string theory and in quantum field theory, but the seeds of its 'miraculous' properties could have been seen already in quantum mechanics - which is also where it has found some of its more important applications. This talk introduces supersymmetry via the supersymmetric anharmonic oscillator. We shall see that this seemingly trivial example is sufficiently rich, allowing us to illustrate the uses of supersymmetric concepts in a variety of fields: mathematics, elementary particle physics, critical phenomena, and stochastic dynamics.