Physics Colloquium, Rafael Lang, Purdue University. Refreshments at 3:30.

Abstract: We know that most of the matter in the Universe is actually Dark Matter, some yet unknown component. A vibrant collection of experiments attempts to detect this Dark Matter using a variety of experimental ideas. This results in a collection of contradicting data sets, i.e., in a fun field of physics. The talk will review what astrophysical observations do and don't tell us about the Nature of Dark Matter. The basic principles of the direct detection of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) in laboratory-based detectors will be presented. Various experimental techniques will then be explained together with data from running detectors. Also, an outlook will be given on what we can expect to learn from these experiments in the near future.