Thurston’s Vision and the Virtual Fibering Theorem for 3-Manifolds

Abstract

The vision and results of William Thurston (1946–2012) have shaped the theory of 3-dimensional manifolds for the last four decades. The high point was Perelman’s proof of Thurston’s Geometrization Conjecture which reduced 3-manifold topology for the most part to the study of hyperbolic 3-manifolds. In 1982 Thurston gave a list of 24 questions and challenges on hyperbolic 3-manifolds. The most daring one came to be known as the Virtual Fibering Conjecture. We will give some background for the conjecture and we will explain its precise content. We will then report on the recent proof of the conjecture by Ian Agol and Dani Wise.