[1] In 1872, he joined the Paris Aeronautical Navigation Society and caught the attention of the scientific world by presenting his project of "exploring the North Pole by balloon".

[2][1] On 22 March 1874, with engineer Joseph Crocé-Spinelli, he ascended in a balloon (the Étoile polaire) to an altitude of 7,400 metres (7,400 m), from the gasworks of La Villette to Bar-sur-Seine.

[3][4] On 23 and 24 March, under the guidance of Paul Bert,[5] he participated as captain in the record flight duration of the Zénith (22h 40' ) from Paris to Arcachon.

[1] On 15 April 1875, he departed aboard the same balloon with Joseph Crocé-Spinelli and Gaston Tissandier near the gasworks in the La Villette district, in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, and died of asphyxiation (hypoxia) at Ciron with Crocé-Spinelli during this new ascent aimed at breaking the flight altitude record aboard the Zénith, from which only Gaston Tissandier survived.

Sivel, who was in charge of monitoring the balloon's altitude with a barometer, may have been misled by his myopia and mistakenly thought the aerostat was about to touch the ground.

[1][2] Sivel was buried in section 71, under a gisant sculpted in 1878 by Alphonse Dumilatre, depicting him lying on his back holding the hand of his unfortunate flight comrade.