SystemC traces its origins to work on Scenic programming language described in a DAC 1997 paper.
Liao, Stan; Tjiang, Steve; Gupta, Rajesh, An Efficient Implementation of Reactivity for Modeling Hardware in the ScenicDesign Environment
Liao, Stan; Tjiang, Steve; Gupta, Rajesh, An Efficient Implementation of Reactivity for Modeling Hardware in the ScenicDesign Environment