Serendip co-founder Paul Grobstein wrote that, ‘both science itself, and the human culture of which it is a part, would benefit from a story of science that encourages wider engagement with and participation in the processes of scientific exploration.’ As a digital ecosystem, it is committed to offering a nonhierarchical environment for collaboration between artists, doctors, scientists, students, teachers, and the general public.

Serendip is rooted in the belief that the humanities and natural sciences are twin cultures, not two cultures as CP Snow argued. It is a gathering place for people interested in sharing their observations about the implications of humanities for the natural sciences and the implications of the natural sciences for the humanities.

from Rachel Grobstein

Since 1994, Serendip has been assembling blogs, exhibits, message boards, and syllabuses dedicated to public conversations exploring the implications of science education for society. Serendip was conceived as an interacting and developing system, not unlike a living organism.

Serendip unites a commitment to social justice with history, philosophy, and sociology of science in order to interpret the role science plays within society.

This is some serious play. The website is organized around the concepts of play, randomness, and the unfinished. Serendip offers a gathering place for open-ended inquiry into the implications of science and science education.

Serendip delights in facilitating the ongoing exchange of narratives about science between different groups of people or as literary critic Roland Barthes wrote in S/Z, ‘narrative is determined not by a desire to narrate but by a desire to exchange.’ This has led to newer exhibits returning to previous exhibits and then turning to the future. Serendip draws together or toward itself, as much as a website can be a self, open-ended inquiries, develop a higher degree of critical thinking about the role of science education in society.

Please contact us through the form below to propose comments, single page submissions, and pitches for more substantial exhibits that engage with existing materials on the website. Please learn about what Serendip is interested in before contacting us.  

Serendip is a digital ecosystem dedicated to gathering people together for the exploration of science and its implications for art, climate change, disability studies, literature, mental health, pedagogy, social justice, and technology.  

This is a term of endearment for Serendip. Salmon dip is a homophonic translation, which is to say that it carries over the sound of the word rather than its meaning. This phrase comes out of the belief that self-reflection constitutes some serious play. (Also the origin of the Twitter handle @notsalmondip).