Its vibrant green color and well-developed distinctive crystals make it a sought-after collector's mineral, as well. It was Named in 1793 by Abraham Gottlob Werner in honour of Torbern Olof Bergmann [March 20, 1735, Katharinberg, Sweden – July 8, 1784, Medevi, Sweden], Professor of Chemistry and Physics, University of Uppsala (Sweden).

Torbernite, like other hydrated minerals, can easily suffer from loss of water molecules. This loss of water from the mineral leads to an alteration of torbernite specimens into its pseudomorph, meta-torbernite.