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Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) is said to be the father of the modern theory of evolution. He was an English naturalist who developed his theory on a journey to the Galápagos Islands and published it in 1859 in a book called "On the Origin of Species". In it he argued two main points: (1) diverse groups of animals evolve from one or a few common ancestors and (2) the mechanism by which this evolution takes place is natural selection. Eventually it was divided by Ernst Mayr into five main arguments:
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Evolution Exists - Darwin believed that organisms could change over time and his arguments supported this theory.
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Common Descent - Darwin held the belief that all life had emerged from a single group of common ancestors.
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Gradualism - Darwin believed evolution occurred extremely slowly, not occurring over a few generations, but rather in innumerable small steps; leading him to also believe the world was much older than thought at that time.
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Population Speciation - Darwin stated that in any given population, change, or evolution, occurs as the balance of hereditary characteristics shifts across the population. For example, all animals living under tall trees would not develop long necks; rather, some would randomly be born with long necks, this trait would gradually spread throughout the population.
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Natural Descent - Darwin presented the idea that competition is the reason for change within a species, or the reason for evolution. For example, if a fish is born with more powerful fins than the other fish, it increases that fish's chances of finding food and surviving. This causes it to be able to reproduce easily, while those with weak fins cannot. As a result, the population eventually contains fish with powerful fins; it has changed. In order for natural selection to occur the following must hold true in a population: Individuals are variable. Some variations are passed down. More offspring are produced than can survive. Survival and reproduction are not random.
Also it should be noted that Darwin was not the first scientist to present a theory on evolution, however his is the one that plays the most major part in the modern theory.