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Neil Alison Mackintosh was born on 19 August 1900 in Hampstead, London. He was educated at Westminster School and Imperial College, London, and after graduation he acted as demonstrator in zoology. In 1924, he was appointed to the staff of the Discovery Investigations, establishing the Marine Biological Station at Grytviken, South Georgia, where he spent two periods, from 1924 to 1926 and from 1926 to 1927. He served with RRS William Scoresby for part of her first commission, marking whales off the Falkland Islands during April 1927.

Appointed chief scientific officer of the Discovery Investigations in 1929, Mackintosh participated in three oceanographic commissions in RRS Discovery II, from 1929-1931, 1933-1935 and 1937-1939, serving as chief scientist for the last two voyages. In 1949, when Discovery Investigations merged with the newly established National Institute of Oceanography, Mackintosh was appointed deputy director, a post he held until 1961 when he was put in charge of the Institute's Whale Research Unit in London, serving until his retirement in 1968.

From 1936, he edited the long series of Discovery Reports, publishing thirty-six volumes by the time of his death. His publications covered a wide range of topics relating to his central interest in whale biology, including the study of zooplankton and the seasonal distribution of pack ice.

From 1946, he was expert adviser to the newly-founded International Whaling Commission, and between 1952 and 1962 served as chairman of its scientific committee. He was also a member of the small sub-committee that advised the Colonial Office during the early days of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey, now called the British Antarctic Survey. Mackintosh was an active member of the Committee of Management of the Scott Polar Research Institute from 1942 until his death on 9 April 1974 in London.

Published work The stocks of whales by Neil Alison Mackintosh, Fishing News (Books) Ltd. London (1965) SPRI Library Shelf 599.5 [pub.1965], Distribution of the pack-ice in the Southern Ocean by Neil Alison Mackintosh and Henry Franceys Porter Herdman Discovery Reports (1940), Life cycle of Antarctic krill in relation to ice and water conditions by Neil Alison Mackintosh Discovery Reports (1972)