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Article Contents

ABSTRACT

1.DARK MATTER PROBLEM AS A SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

2.EARLY EVIDENCE OF THE EXISTENCE OF DARK MATTER

2.1.Local Dark Matter

2.2.Global Dark Matter - clusters, groups and galaxies

2.3.Rotation curves of galaxies

2.4.Mass paradox in galaxies from Galactic models

3.DARK MATTER IN ASTRONOMICAL DATA

3.1.Stellar motions

3.2.Dynamics and morphology of companion galaxies

3.3.Extended rotation curves of galaxies

3.4.X-ray data on galaxies and clusters of galaxies

3.5.Galactic and extragalactic gravitational lensing

4.THE NATURE OF DARK MATTER

4.1.Nucleosynthesis constraints on the amount of baryonic matter

4.2.Baryonic Dark Matter

4.3.Non-baryonic Dark Matter and fluctuations of the CMB radiation

4.4.Alternatives to Dark Matter

5.DARK MATTER AND STRUCTURE FORMATION

5.1.The distribution of galaxies and clusters

5.2.Superclusters, filaments and voids

5.3.Structure formation in the Cold Dark Matter scenario

6.MATTER-ENERGY CONTENT OF THE UNIVERSE

6.1.Dark Matter and Dark Energy

6.2.The role of dark energy in the evolution of the Universe

7.CONCLUSIONS

REFERENCES