Alfred Schoep (1881–1966) described the mineral for the first time in 1921 and named it after physicist and Nobel laureate Pierre Curie (1859–1906).

[7] The mineral is classified according to Strunz as part of the uranyl hydroxides, forming its own group with additional cations (K, Ca, Ba, Pb etc.)

The absolute value of any given mineralogical sample may vary drastically depending on the general composition of the mineral with its matrix, the amount of material and its age.

[8] Curite is found in the oxidation zone along with dewindtite, fourmarierite, kasolite, rutherfordine, schoepite, soddyite, sklodowskite, torbernite und vandendriesscheite.

Curit has been found, apart from its type locality Shinkolobwe mine, at a further 50 localities, e.g. in Egypt; Northern Territory, Australia; Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony, Deutschland; Auvergne, Bretagne, Alsace und Limousin, France; Lombardy and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Italy; Northwest Territories, Canada; Fianarantsoa, Madagascar; Aust-Agder and Telemark, Norway; Karelia, Russia; Namaqualand, South Africa; Bohemia and Moravia, Czechia; Baranya and Heves, Hungary as well as in Colorado, New Hampshire und New Mexico, USA.