The experience of humans over time is what historical research is about. Progress in history has heretofore been represented as linear or cyclical, representations which have often been rejected by historians for various reasons. Historians have not, however, connected such concepts as the infinity of the universe, quantum leaps, and gradual and evolutionary changes with linear and cyclical notions of history. After an overview of linear and cyclical concepts of history, an effort is made to connect them with some of Stephen Hawking's and other physicists' ideas on the universe.