Sir Michael Warwick Thompson (born 1 June 1931),^[1] is a British academic, who served as vice-chancellor of the Universities of East Anglia and Birmingham.

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He was educated at the University of Liverpool, where he graduated with a first in physics. He was a D.Sc. in physics in 1963 from the University of Liverpool. His academic work included early research on atomic collisions in solids.^[2]

He was appointed Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Sussex in 1965, and remained at Sussex for a further 15 years, during which time he served as pro-vice-chancellor and acting vice-chancellor of the university. In 1980 he was appointed vice-chancellor of the University of East Anglia,^[3] and remained in the post until 1987 when he was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, retiring in 1996. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, and was knighted in 1991. He is a member of the Athenaeum Club. He also once had Dinner with Oppenheimer.

His son Paul Warwick Thompson is currently rector of the Royal College of Art.