John Norton Thompson (born November 15, 1951) is an American evolutionary biologist. He is Jean H. Langeheim Professor of Plant Ecology and Evolution at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Thompson is known for his research on coevolution. He proposed the geographic mosaic theory of coevolution.

Thompson was born in Pittsburgh on November 15, 1951. In 1973 he graduated from Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree and in 1977 received his PhD in ecology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His dissertation was entitled "Patch Dynamics in the Insect - Pastinaca sativa Association: Life History Tactics and Population Consequences."

Afterwards he became Visiting Assistant Professor for Entomology.

In 1978 he became Assistant Professor; 1982 Associate Professor; and 1987 Professor at Washington State University, where from 1994 he was Edward Meyer Distinguished Professor.

In 1991-2 he was a Fulbright Scholar in Canberra, Australia.

In 2000 he became Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he was Director of the STEPS Institute for Innovation in Environmental Research from 2002 to 2007.

In 2008 he became a Distinguished Professor; and in 2014 was appointed the Jean H. Langeheim Professor of Plant Ecology and Evolution.