The Noether inequality for algebraic threefolds (With an Appendix by J\'{a}nos Koll\'{a}r)

We establish the Noether inequality for projective $3$-folds. More precisely, we prove that the inequality $${\rm vol}(X)\geq \tfrac{4}{3}p_g(X)-{\tfrac{10}{3}}$$ holds for all projective $3$-folds $X$ of general type with either $p_g(X)\leq 4$ or $p_g(X)\geq 21$, where $p_g(X)$ is the geometric genus and ${\rm vol}(X)$ is the canonical volume. This inequality is optimal due to known examples found by M. Kobayashi in 1992.