Dark matter and galaxy formation

Dark matter presents a challenge for gravitational theory. It is best attacked in two ways; by studying the confrontation of structure formation with observation and by direct and indirect searches. In this review, I will focus on those aspects of dark matter that are relevant for understanding galaxy formation, and describe the outlook for detecting the most elusive component, non-baryonic dark matter. (c) 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.