Explore the fundamentals of Morse theory in this 40-minute lecture by Henry Adams and Enrique Alvarado. Discover how real-valued functions on spaces can be used to create compact cellular models, reflecting important properties of the function. Learn about CW cell complexes, the Morse lemma, and the two main theorems of Morse theory. Delve into Morse complexes, Morse-Smale complexes, and techniques for simplifying Morse complexes. Gain insights into practical applications, including examples from material science and the use of software packages like the Topology Toolkit. From the basics of nudged elastic bands to the intricacies of Van der Waals potentials, this comprehensive introduction covers key concepts and their real-world relevance in applied algebraic topology.