The Origin of Species is a work of

Landmark scientific treatises are attributed to the researcher whose original findings and theory the text presents. The founding text of modern evolutionary biology, formally titled "On the Origin of Species", introduced the theory of evolution through natural selection, built on years of observation of variation among living organisms.

This particular book was written by Charles Darwin and first published in 1859. Darwin developed the theory of natural selection primarily from observations gathered during the voyage of HMS Beagle (1831-1836), where he studied variation among species such as the finches of the Galapagos Islands. "The Origin of Species" laid out the evidence and argument for descent with modification, which makes Charles Darwin the correct answer here.

Cross-check against the other options:

• Aristotle: an ancient Greek philosopher (4th century BCE) who catalogued and classified living organisms in his natural history writings, long before the theory of evolution was proposed; he has no connection to this 19th-century book.

• Mendel: an Austrian monk-scientist whose pea-plant experiments established the laws of inheritance (genetics), published in 1866 as a separate scientific field and a later, different publication.

• Robert Hooke: a 17th-century English scientist who coined the biological term "cell" after examining cork under a microscope in his book "Micrographia" (1665); his work predates the theory of evolution by roughly two centuries.

Hence, the correct answer is Charles Darwin.