DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the genetic material responsible for transferring information from organisms to their offspring, structured as a double helix made of nucleotides. Key historical milestones include discoveries about DNA's structure and function by scientists from Gregor Mendel in 1866 to Watson and Crick in 1953. DNA serves various functions such as replication, encoding information, mutation, recombination, and gene expression, and has applications in fingerprinting, sequencing, and vaccine development.