The Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect from clusters of galaxies

International audienceIn this paper, we recall the basics of the the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect from groups and clusters of galaxies. We review the transformational results from SZ surveys in the past decade, that have led to the detection of new clusters of galaxies from the local to the very distant Universe. The SZ effect has become a very efficient way to investigate the astrophysics of the hot intra-cluster gas, very competitive and complementary to X-ray observations. It renewed the use of massive halos as a cosmological probe or to study the physics of structure formation and evolution. We discuss the present strong synergies between the SZ and X-ray observations