James Jeffrey Binney, FRS, FInstP (born 12 April 1950) is a British astrophysicist.

Binney studied the Mathematical Tripos at the University of Cambridge, graduating with a first in 1971.

After holding several post-doctoral positions, including a junior research fellowship at Magdalen College, and a position at Princeton University, Binney returned to Oxford as a university lecturer and fellow and tutor in physics at Merton College in 1981.

[7] In 2025, Binney received the Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal for Astronomy for his lifetime achievements in the study of the structure and evolution of galaxies.

[8] Binney's research interests have included: Binney has authored over 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals and several textbooks, including Galactic Dynamics, which has long been considered the standard work of reference in its field.