Benedict Paul Jablonski (March 18, 1917 – May 15, 2003),''Ohio, Death Records, 1908-1932, 1938-2007'' also known as Ben Jason, was an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

fan and booster who co-designed the Hugo Award based on a

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

-shaped hood ornament from an Oldsmobile 88. He was also chairman of the 1966 World Science Fiction Convention in his hometown of

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

at which Gene Roddenberry previewed the two-hour pilot of his new series, '' Star Trek'', for science fiction fans. Jablonski was the son of Polish immigrants Stanislaw Jablonski and Helen Szymanski.''1920 United States Federal Census'' He died in

Brunswick, Ohio Brunswick ( or ) is the largest city in Medina County, Ohio, United States approximately 20 mi (32 km) SW of Cleveland. The population was 34,255 at the 2010 census and estimated at 34,880 as of 2019. It is part of the Cleveland Metro ...

at the age of 86.

References

1917 births 2003 deaths People from Cleveland Science fiction fans American people of Polish descent {{US-bio-stub