Magnetic monopoles in electromagnetism and gravity

Magnetic monopoles have rivaled black holes as the most beautiful and elusive entities in the world of theoretical physics since they were first considered in the early twentieth century. They naturally arise in electromagnetism and have immediate implications on the underlying symmetries, both dynamical and internal, at both the classical and quantum level. In this article we will recap some facts about magnetic monopoles in electromagnetism, in particular notions regarding their contribution to the angular momentum of a system and how these concepts are related to the quantization condition for the product of the charges of a fundamental electric pole and magnetic pole. We then proceed to consider magnetic poles in general relativity and briefly address similar considerations in this theory.