Whereas the understanding of most phases of stellar evolution made
considerable progress throughout the whole of the twentieth century, stellar
formation remained rather enigmatic and poorly constrained by observations
until about three decades ago, when major discoveries (e.g., that protostars
are often associated with highly collimated jets) revolutionized the field.
At this time, it became increasingly clearer that magnetic fields were
playing a major role at all stages of stellar formation.
We describe herein a quick overview of the main breakthroughs that observations
and theoretical modelling yielded for our understanding of how stars (and their
planetary systems) are formed and on how much these new worlds are shaped by
the presence of magnetic fields, either those pervading the interstellar medium
and threading molecular clouds or those produced through dynamo processes in
the convective envelopes of protostars or in the accretion discs from which
they feed.