The discovery and scientific potential of fast radio bursts

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-timescale bursts of coherent radio emission that are luminous enough to be detectable at cosmological distances. In this review I describe the discovery of FRBs, subsequent advances in our understanding of them, and future prospects. Thousands of potentially observable FRBs reach Earth every day; they probably originate from highly magnetic and/or rapidly rotating neutron stars in the distant Universe. Some FRBs repeat, with this sub-class often occurring in highly magnetic environments. Two repeaters exhibit cyclic activity windows, consistent with an orbital period. One nearby FRB was from a Galactic magnetar during an X-ray outburst. The host galaxies of some FRBs have been located, providing information about the host environments and the total baryonic content of the Universe.