Classical solutions to various exactly solvable mathematical and physical models, or theories, are encoded in complex, algebraic curves. These models/theories include: random matrix theory, Gromov-Witten theory on toric threefolds, some issues in knot theory (physically: Chern-Simons theory), Seiberg-Witten theory, intersection theory on the moduli space of complex curves, and many others... Apart from the classical solution, in all these models one constructs infinite class of "quantum" invariants. It turns out that these invariants can be determined from the geometry of the underlying classical complex curve, in terms of the so-called topological recursion. I will present this topological recursion, discuss its properties, and explain how it can be used to obtain, in a universal way, information of various quantum invariants in various, otherwise completely distinct, theories.