Born in Aberdeen in 1927, Malcom Slessor studied chemical engineering at the University of Edinburgh. After graduating he went on to have a career as an academic and also worked in the private sector.

With a keen interest in mountaineering and exploration Slessor participated in the ground-breaking British North Greenland Expedition from 1952 to 1953 as an assistant physicist and surveyor. He later co-led an expedition to the Pamirs region of Central Asia, chronicling the experience in a book he authored. As well as writing many papers in a professional capacity he also wrote about experiences of mountaineering and Scotland. Slessor died from a suspected heart attack while walking in the Scottish Highlands in 2007.