Short answers, pulled from the story.
Physicist Richard Feynman delivered the lecture titled There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom on the 8th of December 1959. This event planted the seed of the field by proposing the synthesis of matter via the direct manipulation of individual atoms.
The term nanotechnology was coined by Norio Taniguchi in 1974. K. Eric Drexler later thrust the concept into public consciousness with his 1986 book Engines of Creation.
Harry Kroto, Richard Smalley, and Robert Curl discovered buckminsterfullerene, also known as C60 or the buckyball, in 1985. This discovery of a hollow sphere of carbon atoms earned them the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996.
As of the 21st of August 2008, the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies estimated that over 800 manufacturer-identified nanotech products were publicly available. New products were hitting the market at a pace of three to four per week.
A two-year study at UCLA's School of Public Health found that lab mice consuming nano-titanium dioxide showed DNA and chromosome damage linked to cancer, heart disease, and aging. These particles could bypass the body's natural defenses and enter cells.
As of 2008, Berkeley, California, was the only US city to regulate nanotechnology. This highlighted the fragmented nature of the regulatory landscape at that time.