An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

Matter that has no radiation and therefore cannot be detected directly,
but whose presence can be inferred from dynamical phenomena produced by its gravitational influence. The existence of dark matter is deduced mainly from the rotational speeds of galaxies, velocities of galaxies in clusters, gravitational lensing by galaxy clusters, and the temperature distribution of hot gas in galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Dark matter plays also a central role in cosmic structure formation. There exists a large number of → non-baryonic dark matter candidates. They include, the hypothetical stable particles → WIMPs, → neutralinos, → axions,
→ gravitinos, etc. Among unstable candidates are gravitinos with mild R-parity violation and sterile neutrinos. See also → baryonic dark matter, → dark matter candidate.

See also: The concept of dark matter was first introduced by J.H. Oort (1932, Bull. Astron. Inst. Netherlands, 6, 249), who studied the vertical motions of the stars in the solar neighborhood and found that the visible matter could account for at most 50% of the derived surface density. → dark; → matter.