Recently
there has been a great deal of excitement about the intermetallic
superconductor MgB2. MgB2 has a
superconducting transition temperature Tc ~ 40 K, can be synthesized as single
phase powders and wire segments, has a remarkably low normal state resistivity,
and manifests a promising critical current density in the superconducting
state. In this colloquium I will review
recent discoveries associated with intermetallic borides and try to show how
MgB2 fits into the basic gestalt of intermetallic compounds. In addition I will try to explain why
anybody should care about this and why some physicists find the topic of novel
states in intermetallic compounds to be an extremely interesting research
topic. Fun for one and all. Make sure that the coffee is strong.