Judith Love Cohen

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Judith Love Cohen – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Explore the life and legacy of Judith Love Cohen — pioneering American aerospace engineer, author, and advocate for girls in STEM. Discover her contributions to Apollo 13, her writings, and her inspiring words.

Introduction

Judith Love Cohen (August 16, 1933 – July 25, 2016) was an American aerospace engineer, author, and champion of STEM education for girls. Her technical work touched historic missions in space exploration, including her contributions to the Abort Guidance System that helped bring Apollo 13 safely back to Earth. After her engineering career, she turned to writing and publishing children’s books to encourage the next generation of scientists and engineers. Her life is a powerful testament to breaking barriers, living with purpose, and nurturing future innovators.

Early Life and Family

Judith Love Cohen was born in Brooklyn, New York, on August 16, 1933, to Sarah (née Roisman) and Morris Bernard Cohen, in a Jewish family.

As she progressed in school, she also pursued ballet, even dancing in the Metropolitan Opera Ballet.

Youth and Education

After two years at Brooklyn College, Judith married and moved to California, where she began working as a junior engineer while taking night classes at the University of Southern California (USC).

During her education, Judith frequently found herself isolated: she sometimes passed through her undergraduate and graduate programs without ever encountering another female engineering student.

Career and Achievements

Engineering and Aerospace Work

Judith’s engineering career began in 1952 when she joined North American Aviation as a junior engineer.

Her projects were ambitious:

• She worked on the guidance computer for the Minuteman missile.

• She contributed to terrestrial ground systems for the Hubble Space Telescope and the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite systems.

• Her most celebrated technical contribution was on the Abort Guidance System (AGS) in the Apollo Lunar Module. The AGS served as a backup guidance system, which gained crucial importance during the Apollo 13 mission.

During Apollo 13’s mid-mission crisis — when an oxygen tank explosion disabled the primary navigation — the astronauts relied heavily on the AGS to guide them home. Judith Cohen’s work on this system is credited with helping ensure their safe return.

A compelling anecdote from her life: on the day she gave birth to actor Jack Black in 1969, she carried a computer printout of a problem she was working on, headed to the hospital, and — while in labor — solved the issue and called her boss with the solution before delivering her child.

Publishing and Advocacy

After retiring from engineering, Judith co-founded a children’s multimedia publishing company called Cascade Pass, with her third husband, David Katz.

Notable series include:

• You Can Be a Woman … — encouraging girls to imagine careers in fields like engineering, astronomy, biology.

• Green series — promoting environmental practices for children.

She also supported The Women of Apollo, a work profiling women who contributed to the Apollo missions, including herself.

In recognition of her efforts, she was awarded the IEEE-USA Distinguished Literary Contributions Award in May 2014 for her work in STEM education.

Historical Milestones & Context

Judith Cohen’s career spanned moments of great transformation in American science, society, and gender roles. She entered engineering at a time when very few women participated in technical fields.

Her work on Apollo 13 cemented the role of backup systems in spaceflight, underscoring the necessity of redundancy in mission design. Her transition from engineering to publishing also mirrored broader efforts to encourage women and girls in STEM fields — at a time when role models and access were limited.

Moreover, her dual identity as a mother (to, among others, Neil Siegel and Jack Black) and a technical innovator challenged cultural expectations about women’s roles in family and career life.

Legacy and Influence

Judith Love Cohen’s legacy is multifaceted:

• Technical legacy: Her engineering contributions — especially to the Apollo program — remain part of the foundation of human space exploration.

• Role model for women in STEM: Through her children’s publishing work, she actively sought to lower the barriers she herself had faced.

• Cultural inspiration: Her life story provides a narrative that engineering, motherhood, and creativity can coexist.

• Educational impact: Many young readers and future engineers have found inspiration in her books and life example.

Her life continues to be celebrated in engineering circles, women’s history, and among those advocating for equity in science and technology.

Personality and Talents

Judith was powered by curiosity, resilience, and a refusal to accept limitations. She frequently stood as the only woman in math or engineering classrooms, yet pressed onward with confidence. She held a lifelong love for problem solving, often tackling complex technical challenges — even while managing family responsibilities.

She also had artistic sensibilities (e.g., ballet) and a passion for communication, which later found expression in her writing. Her conversational style often emphasized inclusion, encouragement, and the idea that “girls can be anything they want to be.”

She was also outspoken about systemic barriers: she lamented restrictions that kept young girls from scholarships, doubted negative messages about women’s roles, and spoke in favor of equality in technical fields.

Famous Quotes of Judith Love Cohen

Here are selected quotations that reflect her views on opportunity, gender, and perseverance:

• “Women today have so many opportunities in fields like engineering. The work is new and engineers are making things work, making the impossible possible. I want girls to know about the opportunities out there.”

• “When I was in fifth grade, there were many girls who were good at math, but when I was in junior high school, I was taking intermediate algebra and I looked around the class and realized I was the only girl.”

• “We’re trying to get away from the three D’s: dresses, dolls and diaries.”

• “Let’s face it — selling weapons systems to the Army isn’t women’s work.”

• “There were eight women in my graduating class.”

• “I don’t like dragons and blood all that much.”

These quotes reveal her early awareness of gender norms, her advocacy for expanded roles for girls, and even touches of humor in her outlook.

Lessons from Judith Love Cohen

1. Persist even when alone. Cohen often walked paths with few peers of her gender but stayed focused on her goals.

2. Build bridges for others. Her post-engineering career as a publisher shows that creating opportunities for others can be as meaningful as personal achievement.

3. Integrate life roles. She balanced motherhood and technical excellence, showing that these need not be mutually exclusive.

4. Communicate vision. She believed in speaking out about limitations and inspiring change, not just doing her work quietly.

5. Embrace multiple talents. From dance to engineering to writing, she lived a rich, multidimensional life rather than being confined to a single identity.

Conclusion

Judith Love Cohen’s life is a powerful story of determination, innovation, and purpose. She not only engineered technologies that shaped space exploration, but she also became a voice and guide to ensure that more girls and women could follow in her footsteps. Her technical achievements, literary influence, and personal example continue to inspire scientists, engineers, educators, and dreamers alike.

If you’d like, I can also compile a full list of her publications or a more technical deep dive into her work on the Abort Guidance System.

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