As shown elsewhere an ablatively imploded shell is hydrodynamically unstable, the dominant instability being the well known Rayleigh-Taylor instability with growth rate {gamma} = {radical}Akg where k = 2{pi}/{lambda} is the wave number, g is the acceleration and A the Attwood number ({rho}{sub hi} {minus} {rho}{sub lo})/({rho}{sub hi} + {rho}{sub lo}) where {rho}{sub hi} is the density of the heavier fluid and {rho}{sub lo} is the density of the lighter fluid. A theoretical understanding of ablative stabilization has gradually evolved, confirmed over the last five years by experiments. The linear growth is very well understood with excellent agreement between experiment and simulation for planar geometry with wavelengths in the region of 30--100{mu}m. There is an accurate, albeit phenomenological dispersion relation. The non-linear growth has been measured and agrees with calculations. In this lecture, the authors go into the fundamentals of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability and the experimental measurements that show it is stabilized sufficiently by ablation in regimes relevant to ICF.