  Benford's law is an empirical observation, first reported by Simon Newcomb in
1881 and then independently by Frank Benford in 1938: the first significant
digits of numbers in large data are often distributed according to a
logarithmically decreasing function. Being contrary to intuition, the law was
forgotten as a mere curious observation. However, in the last two decades,
relevant literature has grown exponentially, - an evolution typical of
"Sleeping Beauties" (SBs) publications that go unnoticed (sleep) for a long
time and then suddenly become center of attention (are awakened). Thus, in the
present study, we show that Newcomb (1881) and Benford (1938) papers are
clearly SBs. The former was in deep sleep for 110 years whereas the latter was
in deep sleep for a comparatively lesser period of 31 years up to 1968, and in
a state of less deep sleep for another 27 years up to 1995. Both SBs were
awakened in the year 1995 by Hill (1995a). In so doing, we show that the waking
prince (Hill, 1995a) is more often quoted than the SB whom he kissed, - in this
Benford's law case, wondering whether this is a general effect, - to be
usefully studied.

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