Geometrization of 3-dimensional orbifolds

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to give a proof of the Orbifold Theorem announced by Thurston in late 1981: If $O$ is a compact, connected, orientable, irreducible and topologically atoroidal 3-orbifold with non-empty ramification locus, then $O$ is geometric. As a corollary, any smooth orientation preserving non-free finite group action on $S^3$ is conjugate to an orthogonal action.