Bjorn Bensen was a member of a team of scientists who were terraforming at the Velara Base the planet Velara III.

Bensen and his fellow scientists believed that the planet was lifeless, but were wrong. The terraforming was killing silicon-based lifeforms. These lifeforms attacked Bensen and the rest of the team. After discovering the lifeforms, the terraforming project was halted. During a meeting in the observation lounge aboard the USS Enterprise-D Bensen told Captain Picard that his team chef Kurt Mandl and he himself saw strange patterns in the sand when they've started but he would never thought about lifeforms. (TNG: "Home Soil")