Dictionary

dark matter en · NOUN

Pronunciation

(US) audio

Etymology

The term is often said to have been coined in 1933 by the Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky in German (as Dunkle Materie), but it had already been in use for decades, in French (matière obscure) by Henri Poincaré as early as 1906, and in English. In contrast to these earlier authors, Zwicky used the term to refer to the apparent mass needed to account for galaxy clusters, where the mass of luminous matter did not add up to enough of a gravitational effect, which led him to infer the existence of nonluminous matter to account for the missing mass. The term gained new popularity in the 1970s as a result of Vera Rubin's publishing (in English) her discovery that some galaxies did not seem to have enough mass to account for their rotation curves.

Meanings

(broadly, uncountable) Matter which cannot be detected by its radiation but whose presence is inferred from gravitational effects.
- The evidence for dark matter in galaxies started to accumulate in the mid-1970s. By the following decade it became clear that essentially all galaxies, including our own Milky Way, are surrounded by extensive halos of dark matter. 2001, Susan M. Fitzpatrick, John T. Brue, Carving Our Destiny: Scientific Research Faces a New Millennium:
- On large scales like that of clusters of galaxies, gravitational lensing indicates that the dark matter is smoothly distributed, on the average. 2004, L. Bergström, A. Goobar, “Particle Astrophysics and the Dark Sector of the Universe”, in John W. Mason, editor, Astrophysics Update, pages 124–125:
(particle, qualifier:strictly, uncountable) Matter which has mass but which does not readily interact with normal matter except through gravitational effects.
(informal, uncountable) Unclassified or poorly understood genetic material.

Coordinates

neutralino · MACHO · higgsino · axion · PBH · sterile neutrino · WIMP

Deriveds

Hyponyms

non-baryonic dark matter · fuzzy dark matter · baryonic dark matter · warm dark matter · cold dark matter · hot dark matter

dark sector · dark energy · dark light

Translations (66)

vi vật chất tối (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · pt matéria escura (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · cmn 暗物質 /暗物质 (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · lv tumšā matērija (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · lt tamsioji materija (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · cv тӗксӗм йӑмлӑх (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · it materia oscura (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · hy մութ մատերիա (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · gl materia escura (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · ko 암흑 물질 (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · cs temná hmota (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · da mørkt stof (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · af donker materie (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · ka ბნელი მატერია (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · hu sötét anyag (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · tr karanlık madde (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · no mørk materie (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · fr matière noire (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · be цёмная матэ́рыя (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · el σκοτεινή ύλη (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · fo dimmevni (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · nl donkere materie (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · sl tèmna snóv (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · fr matière sombre (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · kn ಡಾರ್ಕ್ ಮ್ಯಾಟರ್ (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · bg тъ́мна мате́рия (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · eo malluma materio (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · fi pimeä aine (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · az qaranlıq maddə (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · th สสารมืด (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · scn materia nìvira (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · is hulduefni (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · gl materia negra (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · mk тéмна матéрија (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · io materio obskura (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · lt nematomoji medžiaga (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · sv mörk materia (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · sk tmavá hmota (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · ro materie întunecată (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · eu materia ilun (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · ja ダークマター (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · et tumeaine (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · fa ماده تاریک (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · de Dunkle Materie (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · ru скры́тая ма́сса (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · ar مَادَّة مَظْلِمَة (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · da mørk materie (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · sk temná hmota (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · lt tamsioji medžiaga (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · ca matèria fosca (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · sh тамна тва̑р (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · sh tamna tvȃr (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · sh tamna màtērija (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · id materi gelap (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · sh тамна ма̀те̄рија (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · pt matéria negra (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · ga damhna dorcha (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · ast materia escuro (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · ja 暗黒物質 (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · ru тёмная мате́рия (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · kk қараңғы материя (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · ms jirim gelap (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · es materia oscura (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · uk тéмна матéрія (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · he חומר אפל (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation) · pl ciemna materia (particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation)

wikipedia: en:Henri Poincaré · wikipedia: en:Fritz Zwicky · wikipedia: en:Robert J. Trumpler · wikipedia: en:Vera Rubin