REVEALED: Jack Black’s mother Judith Love Cohen worked on a system that helped save Apollo 13 astronauts
- The actor, 54, was born in Santa Monica on August 28, 1969
- His mother worked as an aerospace engineer at the time
- She had discovered a critical problem with the Apollo 13 mission the day she got it
Jack Black's late mother Judith Love Cohen was an aerospace engineer who had performed work vital to saving the Apollo 13 astronauts in April 1970.
The Golden Globe-nominated actor, 54, was born on August 28, 1969, in Santa Monica, California, to father Thomas William Black and mother Love Cohen, both engineers.
The detail was confirmed by USA today in June 2021 in response to a post that had gone viral Facebook which at the time made the connection between the School of Rock star and the groundbreaking event in American history.
The post read: “Judith Love Cohen helped create the Abort-Guidance System that saved the Apollo 13 astronauts and went to work the day she went into labor.
“She took a printout of a problem she was working on to the hospital. She called her boss and said she had solved the problem and had given birth to Jack Black.”
Jack Black's late mother Judith Love Cohen was an aerospace engineer who had performed work vital to saving the Apollo 13 astronauts in April 1970. The actor, 54, was pictured in LA on Sunday.
Love Cohen had been an aerospace engineer and employee of the TRW company
Love Cohen died on July 25, 2016 at the age of 82and her son (and Black's older brother) USC engineering professor Neil Siegel, 69, written a memorial she defended her professional achievements and confirmed the details of the Facebook post.
“She actually went into her office the day Jack was born,” Siegel said. “When it was time to go to the hospital, she took a computer printout of the problem she was working on.
'Later that day she called her boss and told him she had resolved the problem. And . . . Oh yes, the baby was born too.'
Siegel said his “mother usually considered her work on the Apollo program the pinnacle of her career.
“When disaster struck the Apollo 13 mission, it was the Abort-Guidance System that got the astronauts home safely. Judy was there when the Apollo 13 astronauts gave a thank you to the TRW facility in Redondo Beach.”
The Nacho Libre actor posted a memorial to his late mother in May 2019, with a photo of her work as an engineer.
He wrote, “Judith Love Cohen…Aerospace engineer…Children's book author…Loving mother of four…I miss you mom.”
Last May, he said on the social media site: “It's true… my mother was a bad aerospace engineer… and a loving mother too… I miss you mom!”
The Nacho Libre actor posted a memorial to his late mother in May 2019, with a photo of her work as an engineer
The Shallow Hal actor and his mother were pictured on the red carpet at the 2013 Golden Globes
The connection between the School of Rock star and the seminal event in American history has gone viral in recent years
Black hugged his father Thomas William Black at the premiere of Jumanji: The Next Level in Hollywood, California in 2019
Black's parents divorced when he was 10 in 1979, and she later married David A. Katz.
“There's something about divorce in the fact that even if your parents still love you, the fact that they can't live together makes you feel like there's something wrong with you,” Black shared. The guard in 2011.
In addition to her work with the space program, Love Cohen was also a dancer with the New York Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company and an author of children's books.
An obituary published in the Los Angeles Times On July 29, 2016, it was indicated that Love Cohen had been employed by the TRW company.