Theoretical and Phenomenological Aspects of Top Quark Physics

The year 2015 has marked the 20th anniversary of the discovery of the top-quark at the Tevatron proton-anti-proton collider at Fermilab near Chicago. The top-quark not only still is the heaviest known elementary particle, but it also interacts through every known fundamental force of nature. It seems surprising that the interpretation of the value of the measured mass is currently a hotly debated topic with possible relations and implications to the long term fate of the Universe. Furthermore, experimental data on the top-quark production cross sections at the Large Hadron Collider allows amongst others to gain insight into the structure of the proton and to hunt for hints of the existence of new particles. In this talk, I will review the successes of both theoretical and experimental physics together with the central role of the Large Hadron Collider in this field. I will also point to open questions and future research directions.