Despite topology being regarded as a very abstract mathematical theory it has surprising applications. In particular in physics and chemistry, topological effects appear abundantly. In chemistry, the topological phenomenon of chirality has been known for a long time. In this talk some fundamentals of topology are explained and it is shown how topology can be used to study and describe molecules. With the help of examples it will be explained that the topological study of molecules is not only of theoretical and scientific interest, but has applications in the life sciences and medicine.