John Francis Michael Cannon (22 April 1930 – 31 March 2008) was a British botanist who held the role of Keeper of Botany at the Natural History Museum between 1978 and 1990.
[1] Cannon joined the Department of Botany at the British Museum (Natural History), as it was then known, in October 1952.
The following year he was given responsibility for planning and building a major new botany gallery - the first exhibition to be constructed in the museum following serious bomb damage during the second world war.
It reflected a new approach to making museum natural history more accessible to a general audience, and was opened by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother on 31 October 1962 and dismantled 20 years later.
He specialised in the study of Apiaceae (Parsley Family), especially African species.