James South

 The son of a pharmaceutical chemist, he had studied surgery, become a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, and acquired an extensive practice when he was then married in 1816. He then became wealthy enough o retire and become an astronomer.  He established several observatories, in London and Paris, where he observed with some of the finest telescopes available. He served as the first president of the  Royal Astronomical Society in 1831. South, working with John Herschel during the years 1821–1823, re-observed the double stars charted originally by William Herschel, mainly for the purpose of detecting position changes. Their observations helped verify the newly recognized orbital motion of these neighboring stars.Their resulting catalog of 380 double stars, presented to the Royal Society in 1824, earned them the gold medal of the Astronomical Society and the grand prize of the Institute de France. For his second catalog of double stars, two years later, South was awarded the Copley Medal of the Royal Society.